Alarm system with two-way voice

ABSTRACT

Techniques are described for establishing a two-way voice communication session with an alarm system. The alarm system may establish a two-way voice communication session with an operator associated with a monitoring service that provides monitoring services for alarm events detected by the alarm system. The alarm system also may establish a two-way voice communication session with a notification recipient that is interested in receiving notifications associated with events detected by the alarm system.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 13/914,966, filed Jun. 11, 2013, now allowed, which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/403,082, filed Feb.23, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,467,763, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/079,455, filed Apr. 4, 2011, now U.S.Pat. No. 8,140,048, issued Mar. 20, 2012, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/871,920, filed Oct. 12, 2007, nowU.S. Pat. No. 7,920,841, issued Apr. 5, 2011, which claims priority fromU.S. Provisional Application No. 60/944,392, filed Jun. 15, 2007, andU.S. Provisional Application No. 60/946,586, filed Jun. 27, 2007, thecontent of each of the prior applications is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates to alarm systems.

BACKGROUND

Many people equip homes and businesses with alarm systems to provideincreased security for their homes and businesses. Alarm systems mayinclude control panels that a person may use to control operation of thealarm system and sensors that monitor for security breaches. In responseto an alarm system detecting a security breach, the alarm system maygenerate an audible alert and, if the alarm system is monitored by amonitoring service, the alarm system may send electronic data to themonitoring service to alert the monitoring service of the securitybreach.

SUMMARY

In one aspect, establishment of a voice communication session iscoordinated between an alarm system and an operator handling an alarmevent for the alarm system. Alarm data is received that is transmittedover a wireless data channel by a wireless communication module includedin an alarm system in response to the alarm system detecting an alarmevent. The alarm data indicates the alarm event. An operator is enabledto handle the alarm event based on the received alarm data and voicecommunication information associated with the wireless communicationmodule included in the alarm system is accessed. A voice communicationsession, over a wireless voice channel that is decoupled from thewireless data channel, is established between a communication deviceused by the operator handling the alarm event and the wirelesscommunication module included in the alarm system based on the accessedvoice communication information.

Implementations may include one or more of the following features. Forexample, a call from the wireless communication module may be receivedover the wireless voice channel, and a number associated with thewireless communication module may be identified based on the receivedcall. In this example, an operator handling the alarm event may beidentified based on the identified number, a number associated with thecommunication device used by the operator may be accessed, and thereceived call may be routed to the communication device used by theoperator based on the accessed number.

In some implementations, a phone number associated with the wirelesscommunication module may be accessed, and a call may be placed to thewireless communication module over the wireless voice channel. In otherimplementations, confirmation information may be transmitted to thewireless communication module over the wireless data channel in responseto receiving the alarm data, and a call from the wireless communicationmodule may be received over the wireless voice channel. The call may beplaced by the wireless communication module in response to receiving theconfirmation information. In these implementations, a number associatedwith the received call may be accessed, and an operator handling thealarm event may be identified based on the identified number. A numberassociated with the communication device used by the operator may beaccessed, and the received call may be routed to the communicationdevice used by the operator based on the accessed number.

In some examples, it may be determined that the alarm system includes atwo-way voice feature based on the received alarm data. In response todetermining that the alarm system includes the two-way voice feature,processing of the received alarm data may be delayed for a predeterminedand configurable amount of time, and an incoming call associated withthe alarm data may be monitored for during the predetermined andconfigurable amount of time. A call from the wireless communicationmodule may be received over the wireless voice channel while monitoringfor the incoming call, and a number associated with the received callmay be identified. It may be identified that the received call isassociated with the received alarm data, an operator to handle the alarmevent may be identified, the received call may be routed to a firstcommunication device used by the identified operator, and the alarm datamay be routed to a second communication device used by the identifiedoperator.

A command to initiate a voice call may be transmitted to the wirelesscommunication module. The command may be transmitted in response to userinput entered by the operator handling the alarm event. A call from thewireless communication module may be received over the wireless voicechannel. The call may be placed by the wireless communication module inresponse to receiving the command to initiate the call. A numberassociated with the received call may be identified, and an operatorhandling the alarm event may be identified based on the identifiednumber. A number associated with the communication device used by theoperator may be accessed, and the received call may be routed to thecommunication device used by the operator based on the accessed number.

In some implementations, it may be determined that the alarm systemincludes a two-way voice feature based on the received alarm data, and acommand to initiate a voice call may be transmitted to the wirelesscommunication module in response to determining that the alarm systemincludes the two-way voice feature. A call from the wirelesscommunication module may be received over the wireless voice channel.The call may be placed by the wireless communication module in responseto receiving the command to initiate the call, and a number associatedwith the received call may be identified. An operator handling the alarmevent may be identified based on the identified number, a numberassociated with the communication device used by the operator may beaccessed, and the received call may be routed to the communicationdevice used by the operator based on the accessed number.

The alarm system may be a security system installed in a building. Thesecurity system may be configured to receive a signal from at least onesensor and detect an alarm event based on the received signal. A voicecommunication session may be established with the security system toenable the operator to listen in on an area in the building andcommunicate with a person who is in the area in the building.

Implementations of the described techniques may include hardware, amethod or process, or computer software on a computer-accessible medium.The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the description below. Other features will beapparent from the description and drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process forestablishing a voice communication session between an alarm system andan alarm operator.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an example of an electronic systemconfigured to establish a voice communication session between an alarmsystem and an alarm operator.

FIGS. 3, 4, 5, 6A, and 6B are flow charts illustrating examples ofprocesses for establishing a voice communication session between analarm system and an alarm operator.

FIG. 7 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process forestablishing a voice communication session between an alarm system andan alarm operator using shelf and slot numbers.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an example of an electronic systemconfigured to establish a voice communication session between an alarmsystem and an alarm operator.

FIG. 9 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process forestablishing a voice communication session between an alarm system andan alarm operator using shelf and slot numbers.

FIG. 10 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process forestablishing a voice communication session between an alarm system andan alarm operator using extension identifiers.

FIG. 11 is a flow chart illustrating an example of a process forestablishing a voice communication session between an alarm system and anotification recipient.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of an example of an electronic systemconfigured to establish a voice communication session between an alarmsystem and a notification recipient.

FIGS. 13-18 are flow charts illustrating examples of processes forestablishing a voice communication session between an alarm system and anotification recipient.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Techniques are provided for establishing a voice communication sessionwith an alarm system. In some implementations, two-way voicecommunications are provided between a central monitoring station or anotification recipient and an alarm system (e.g., a security system inresidence) that is not connected to a traditional phone line or one forwhich the phone line is disabled. In these implementations, the alarmsystem is configured to transmit data over a wireless data channel andestablish a two-way voice communication session with the centralmonitoring station or notification recipient over a wireless voicechannel that is separate and distinct from the wireless data channel.

In one particular implementation, an alarm system (e.g., a securitysystem installed in a residence or commercial building that includes oneor more control panels) detects an alarm event (e.g., a security breachor emergency condition). The alarm system may include one or moresensors (e.g., contact sensors, motion sensors, glass breaker sensors,temperature sensors, smoke sensors, carbon monoxide sensors, panicbutton sensors, etc.) and may detect an alarm event based on a signalsent from the one or more sensors. For example, when the alarm system isin an armed mode, the alarm system may detect an intruder entering abuilding in response to receiving a signal from a contact sensorprovided on a door to the building.

In some implementations, the alarm system may be configured for remotemonitoring by a monitoring system (e.g., a central monitoring stationalone or in combination with an intermediary alarm server). In theseimplementations, the alarm system is configured to transmit data to themonitoring system in response to detecting an alarm event.

For example, the alarm system may include a wireless communicationmodule and the wireless communication module may be configured towirelessly transmit alarm data indicating the alarm event (e.g., dataidentifying the alarm system, a customer account number, otherinformation about the alarm system or customer, a type of alarm event, asensor giving rise to the alarm event, or other information about thealarm event) to the monitoring system. In this example, the wirelesscommunication module may be configured to transmit the alarm data over awireless data channel (e.g., Global System for Mobile communications(GSM)/General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) data channel, a Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA) data channel or data carrying mechanism, anEnhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced GPRS (EGPRS)data channel, an Evolution-Data Optimized or Evolution-Data only (EV-DOor EVDO) data channel, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System(UMTS) data channel, any type of Internet Protocol (IP) based wirelessprotocol, a cellular control channel, etc.). The wireless data channelmay or may not be able to transmit voice communications or establishvoice communication sessions. Transmission of alarm data over thewireless data channel may provide increased reliability, quality, andspeed over transmission of alarm data over a wireless voice channel(e.g., a GSM voice channel, a cellular voice channel, etc.) and mayreduce the need of an owner of the alarm system to maintain a wiredtelephone line (e.g., a plain old telephone service (POTS) line). In oneexample described above, when the alarm system detects an intruderentering a building, a wireless communication module included in thealarm system may send alarm data to the monitoring system over aGSM/GPRS data channel. The alarm data may include a customer accountnumber associated with the alarm system and information indicating anintruder detection.

The monitoring system may receive the alarm data over the wireless datachannel and enable an operator to handle the alarm event based on thereceived alarm data. In one example, the monitoring system may include acentral monitoring system alone. In this example, the central monitoringsystem receives the alarm data directly from the wireless communicationmodule over the wireless data channel and queues the alarm data forprocessing by the next available operator.

In another example, the monitoring system may include a centralmonitoring system and an intermediary alarm server. In this example, theintermediary alarm server may receive the alarm data directly from thewireless communication module over the wireless data channel, convert orreformat the alarm data (e.g., convert the alarm data to a digitaldialer signal or to a format or type accepted by the central monitoringstation), and transmit the alarm data to the central monitoring station.When an operator at the central monitoring station is assigned to handlethe alarm data, the operator may handle the alarm event by determiningmore information associated with the alarm event, dispatching emergencyservices, or performing other services that may assist in handling thealarm event. For instance, in the example described above, when anoperator at a central monitoring station is assigned to handle the alarmdata transmitted over the GSM/GPRS data channel by the wirelesscommunication module in response to the alarm system detecting anintruder, the operator may determine that the alarm event is an intruderevent based on the alarm data and attempt to determine more informationassociated with the intruder event. The operator also may determine aphysical location of the building associated with the alarm system basedthe customer account number included in the alarm data and dispatchemergency services to the physical location.

In some implementations, the monitoring system and the alarm systemcoordinate to establish a two-way voice communication session (e.g., anintercom-like connection with a speaker and microphone associated withthe alarm system) between the operator handling the alarm event at thecentral monitoring station and the alarm system. For example, themonitoring system and the alarm system may coordinate to establish atwo-way voice communication session over a wireless voice channel (e.g.,a GSM voice channel, a cellular voice channel, etc.). In implementationsin which the alarm system transmits alarm data over the wireless datachannel, coordination between the monitoring system and the alarm systemto establish the two-way voice communication session with a deviceassociated with the operator handling the alarm event at the centralstation may be required because the wireless voice channel is differentfrom (e.g., separate, distinct, unrelated, decoupled, etc.) the wirelessdata channel. In these implementations, the alarm system may achievehigh reliability in transmission of alarm data and provide two-way voicecommunication services without having to maintain a POTS telephone line.In the example described above, a device at the central monitoringstation associated with the operator handling the intruder event and thealarm system may establish a two-way voice communication session over aGSM voice channel. The two-way voice communication session allows theoperator to listen in on the intruder event through a microphoneincluded in the alarm system and speak to individuals proximate to theintruder event through a speaker included in the alarm system. Listeningin on the intruder event and communicating with individuals proximate tothe intruder event may enable the operator to determine whether thedetected event is a real event or a false alarm and may enable theoperator to determine special circumstances associated with the intruderevent (e.g., the intruder is still present, individuals are injured andneed medical attention, etc.)

In one example, the central monitoring station may be configured totransmit a confirmation signal to the alarm system in response toreceiving alarm data and the wireless communication module included inthe alarm system may be configured to place a voice call to the centralmonitoring station in response to receiving the confirmation. In thisexample, the confirmation signal may include the telephone number of thecentral monitoring system or the alarm system may access, fromelectronic storage, the telephone number to call in response toreceiving the confirmation signal. The central monitoring station may beconfigured to route the wireless voice call to the operator handling thepreviously received alarm data by identifying the alarm system orcustomer associated with the alarm system and identifying the operatorhandling alarm data associated with the identified alarm system orcustomer. For example, the central monitoring station may identify thephone number of the wireless voice call from the alarm system usingautomatic number identification (ANI) or Dialed Number IdentificationService (DNIS), determine a customer account number associated with theidentified phone number, and route the call to an operator handling analarm event associated with the customer account number to establish atwo-way voice communication session.

In another example, the alarm system may wait a predetermined andconfigurable amount of time (e.g., fifteen seconds) after sending thealarm data over the wireless data channel prior to placing the voicecall to central monitoring station over the wireless voice channel. Thepredetermined amount of time may be configurable such that thepredetermined amount of time may be set or changed by an operator orsystem administrator in controlling the alarm system. Further, thepredetermined amount of time may be dynamically configurable based oncurrent operating conditions of the alarm system communications network.

In yet another example, the central monitoring station may, upon receiptof alarm data, determine whether the alarm system sending the alarm datahas a two-way voice feature, hold the alarm data (at least temporarily)until a wireless voice call is received from the alarm systemconditioned on determining that the alarm system has a two-way voicefeature, and route the alarm data and the wireless voice call receivedto an operator upon receipt of the wireless voice call. In this example,the voice call may be answered by the next available operator and thealarm data may be presented to the operator who answered the voice call.In a further example, the central monitoring station may transmit acommand to the alarm system to initiate the wireless communicationmodule included in the alarm system to place a wireless voice call tothe central monitoring station or may access a phone number for thewireless communication module included in the alarm system and place acall to the wireless communication module.

In some implementations, the technology used to perform two-way voiceservices with alarm systems over wired phone lines (e.g., POTS phonelines) may be leveraged to provide two-way voice services over awireless voice channel. For example, central monitoring stationsconnected to alarm systems using POTS phone lines may route two-wayvoice calls to an appropriate operator based on a shelf/slot numberassociated with the physical phone line connection at the centralmonitoring station. In some examples, central monitoring stations mayassign shelf/slot numbers to extensions or identifiers for incomingwireless phone calls (e.g., private branch exchange (PBX) extensions)such that shelf/slot numbers may be associated with incoming wirelessvoice calls. Central monitoring stations may allocate a pool ofshelf/slot numbers for wireless phone numbers (e.g., PBX extensions) toan intermediary alarm server. In these implementations, the intermediaryalarm server may coordinate provision of alarm data, received from analarm system over a wireless data channel, to a central monitoringstation and establishment of a two-way voice communication session, overa wireless voice channel, between the central monitoring station and thealarm system by leveraging the technology used by the central monitoringstation to perform two-way voice services with alarm systems over wiredphone lines. For example, the intermediary alarm server receives alarmdata from the alarm system over a wireless data channel. In response toreceiving the alarm data, the intermediary alarm server assigns thealarm data an available shelf/slot number from among its allocated poolof shelf/slot numbers corresponding to wireless phone numbers (e.g., PBXextensions) associated with the central monitoring station. Theintermediary alarm server generates a signal that enables identificationof the alarm data and the assigned shelf/slot number and transmits thegenerated signal to the central monitoring station. In response toreceiving the signal, the central monitoring station associates thealarm data with the assigned shelf/slot number such that calls placed tothe wireless phone number (e.g., PBX extension) associated with theassigned shelf/slot number will be routed to an operator handling thealarm data using the same technology used to route two-way voicecommunication sessions established over wired phone lines (e.g., POTSphone lines). The intermediary alarm server also transmits the telephonenumber associated with the assigned shelf/slot number to the alarmsystem. In response to receiving the telephone number, the alarm systemplaces a call over a wireless voice channel to the phone numberassociated with the assigned shelf/slot number. Because the intermediaryalarm server transmitted the alarm data to the central station in amanner that enables identification of the assigned shelf/slot number,the wireless voice call from the alarm system to the telephone numberassociated with the assigned shelf/slot number is routed to an operatorhandling the previously transmitted alarm data using the same softwareused to provide two-way voice for wired phone lines. Theseimplementations may provide cost effective solutions becausemodifications to central monitoring station technology and wirelesscommunication modules included in alarm systems may be unnecessary.

In other implementations, central monitoring stations may allocate apool of pairs of PBX extension identifiers and associated PBX phonenumbers to an intermediary alarm server. In these implementations, theintermediary alarm server may coordinate provision of alarm data,received from an alarm system over a wireless data channel, to a centralmonitoring station and establishment of a two-way voice communicationsession, over a wireless voice channel, between the central monitoringstation and the alarm system using the PBX extension identifiers. Forexample, the intermediary alarm server receives alarm data from thealarm system over a wireless data channel. In response to receiving thealarm data, the intermediary alarm server appends to the alarm data anavailable PBX extension identifier from among its allocated pool of PBXextension identifiers associated with the central monitoring station.The intermediary alarm server generates a signal that enablesidentification of the alarm data and the assigned PBX extensionidentifier and transmits the generated signal to the central monitoringstation. In response to receiving the signal, the central monitoringstation associates the alarm data with the assigned PBX extensionidentifier and provides the assigned PBX extension identifier with thealarm data to an operator. The intermediary alarm server also transmitsthe telephone number associated with the assigned PBX extensionidentifier to the alarm system. In response to receiving the telephonenumber, the alarm system places a call over a wireless voice channel tothe phone number associated with the assigned PBX extension identifier.Because the central monitoring station provides the assigned PBXextension identifier with the alarm data to the operator, the operatormay answer the call, from the alarm system, to the phone numberassociated with the assigned PBX extension identifier and establish atwo-way voice communication session with the alarm system over thewireless voice channel.

In some implementations, an alarm system may be configured to establisha two-way voice communication session with a notification recipient(e.g., an owner of alarm system) rather than or in addition to anoperator at a central monitoring station. Establishing a two-way voicecommunication session with a notification recipient may enable thenotification recipient to better monitor the notification recipient'sbuilding (e.g., residence or commercial establishment) and may enablethe notification recipient to respond to and assist in events detectedby the alarm system that may not give rise to notification of anoperator at a central monitoring station. For example, an alarm systemmay detect a medicine cabinet opening. The alarm system may transmitevent data indicating that the medicine cabinet has been opened to analarm server over a wireless data channel. The alarm system or the alarmserver may determine that detection of the medicine cabinet opening doesnot warrant alerting an operator at a central monitoring station of theevent, but that a notification recipient should be notified. In thisexample, the alarm server receives, from the alarm system, the dataindicating that the medicine cabinet has been opened. The alarm serveridentifies a notification recipient for this event. For example, thealarm server may identify the customer associated with the alarm systemthat sent the event data and identify the owner of the alarm system asthe notification recipient. In other examples, multiple recipients maybe associated with an alarm system and a particular notificationrecipient or multiple notification recipients may be selected based onthe type of event. In response to identifying the notificationrecipient, the alarm server facilitates establishment of a two-way voicecommunication session, over a wireless voice channel, with the alarmsystem and an electronic device associated with the notificationrecipient. For example, a two-way voice communication session may beestablished between the alarm system and a cellular telephone associatedwith the notification recipient. In this example, the notificationrecipient may be able to communicate with individuals in an area aroundthe medicine cabinet to determine more information associated with theevent. For instance, the notification recipient may establish a two-wayvoice communication session with the alarm system, determine that therecipient's grandmother opened the medicine cabinet, and ask thegrandmother if she took the correct medication to ensure that a medicalemergency does not arise.

Implementations in which an alarm system is configured to transmit dataover a wireless data channel and establish a two-way voice communicationsession with a central monitoring station or notification recipient overa wireless voice channel that is decoupled from the wireless datachannel may provide benefits of transmitting data over the wireless datachannel and benefits of transmitting two-way voice communications overthe wireless voice channel. In particular, a wireless voice channel maybe a communication medium a service provider or carrier uses to transmitvoice communications and a wireless data channel may be a communicationmedium a service provider or carrier uses to transmit datacommunications. For example, a service provider implementing a GSM/GPRScommunication system may allocate a particular frequency band in theGSM/GPRS spectrum for a wireless voice channel and a different frequencyband in the GSM/GPRS spectrum for a wireless data channel. In thisexample, the wireless voice channel may be configured to handle voicecalls and, therefore, sending voice data through the wireless voicechannel may include processing operations such as digitization,compression, and encoding to optimize voice communications transmittedover the wireless voice channel. In some implementations, processingdata for transmission over a wireless voice channel may include samplingan analog waveform and transmitting sampled data over the wireless voicechannel. In these implementations, to transmit digital data (e.g., alarmdata) over the wireless voice channel, the digital data is converted toan analog waveform, sampled, and the sampled data is transmitted overthe wireless voice channel. Further, in these implementations, thesampled data is received over the wireless voice channel and the analogwaveform is reconstructed based on the received sampled data. To obtainthe digital data (e.g., alarm data), the reconstructed analog waveformis converted into a digital format. Accordingly, digital data receivedover a wireless voice channel may have integrity problems and data maybe lost because of the sampling, conversion, and other operations (e.g.,compression, packet routing, and encoding) required to transmit thedigital data over the wireless voice channel.

On the other hand, a wireless data channel may be optimized for datatransmission. Accordingly, sending data over the wireless data channelmay not include the same processing operations as sending data over thewireless voice channel. In particular, processing data for transmissionover a wireless data channel may not include sampling an analog waveformand transmitting sampled data, but, instead, may include transmitting adirect representation of the digital data (e.g., alarm data) over thewireless data channel. In these implementations, the directrepresentation of the digital data is received over the wireless datachannel and the digital data may be received without substantialintegrity problems and without loss.

Because transmission of data over the wireless voice channel includessubstantial processing operations, includes sampling an analog signal,and requires more information in each packet, digital data (e.g., alarmdata) may not be transmitted as accurately or as quickly over thewireless voice channel as the wireless data channel. Moreover, becausethe wireless data channel does not include substantial voice processingoperations, does not include sampling an analog waveform, and does notinclude as much information in a packet, transmission of voicecommunications over the wireless data channel may be more costly andrequire a significant amount of additional processing as compared totransmission of voice communications over the wireless voice channel. Assuch, by transmitting data over a wireless data channel and establishinga two-way voice communication session over a wireless voice channel thatis decoupled from the wireless data channel, the benefits of bothtransmission of data over a wireless data channel and transmission ofvoice communications over a wireless voice channel may be realized.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a process 100 for establishing a voicecommunication session between an alarm system and an alarm operator. Theoperations in flow chart 100 are described generally as being performedby a processor. In some implementations, the processor may be includedin an electronic device or system configured to send and receivecommunications over a network. For example, the processor may beincluded in an alarm server, a central monitoring station server, oranother type of electronic device included in a system configured tomonitor an alarm system. In another example, the operations of process100 may be performed by multiple processors included in one or moreelectronic devices or systems.

The processor receives alarm data transmitted by an alarm system over awireless data channel in response to the alarm system detecting an alarmevent (110). For example, the processor may receive the alarm data inone or more electronic communications from a network. The alarm dataincluded in the one or more electronic communications may includeinformation associated with the alarm event. For instance, the alarmdata may include information identifying the alarm system or the userassociated with the alarm system that detected the alarm event andinformation describing or identifying the particular alarm event thatthe alarm system detected. In one implementation, the alarm systemdetects, based on a signal from a contact sensor, opening of a door in abuilding that the alarm system is monitoring. In this implementation,the alarm data may include information identifying the alarm system, theuser of the alarm system, and the building being monitored by the alarmsystem. The alarm data also may include information identifying the typeof alarm event (e.g., security breach) and the particular door that thealarm system detected as being opened.

In some implementations, the processor receives the alarm data directlyfrom the alarm system over a wireless data channel. For example, theprocessor may be included in an electronic system that exchangeselectronic communications over a wireless data channel. In this example,the processor may be included in an intermediary alarm server thatcommunicates with the alarm system and provides information related todetected alarm events to a central monitoring station over acommunication medium other than a wireless data channel. For instance,the intermediary alarm server may receive alarm data from the alarmsystem over the wireless data channel and forward the alarm data to amonitoring station over a POTS telephone line.

In other examples, the processor may be included in a monitoring stationdevice that exchanges communications over a wireless data channel. Inthese examples, the alarm system may provide the alarm data directly tothe monitoring station over the wireless data channel.

In further implementations, the processor receives, from a device otherthan the alarm system, the alarm data using a communication medium otherthan a wireless data channel. For example, the alarm system may transmitalarm data to an intermediary alarm server over a wireless data channel.The intermediary alarm server may receive the alarm data and forward thealarm data to another electronic device that includes the processorusing a communication medium other than a wireless data channel. Forinstance, the intermediary alarm server may receive the alarm data overa wireless data channel and forward the alarm data, over a POTStelephone line, to a monitoring station that includes the processor.Accordingly, the processor receives the alarm data, originallytransmitted over the wireless data channel by the alarm system, over thePOTS telephone line. In these implementations, the intermediary alarmserver may enable a user to use an alarm system that does not require aPOTS telephone line with a monitoring station that requires a POTStelephone line. The intermediary alarm server may transform or convertthe alarm data received over the wireless data channel to a formatsuitable for transmission over a POTS telephone line to the monitoringstation.

As discussed above, the alarm system may transmit the alarm data over awireless data channel that is optimized for digital data transmissionand carries a direct representation of digital data (e.g., alarm data).For example, the alarm system may transmit the alarm data over aGSM/GPRS data channel, the alarm system may transmit the alarm data asIP packets over a wireless data channel configured to transport IPpackets, or the alarm system may transport the alarm data as a ShortMessage Service (SMS) message over a wireless data channel configured totransport SMS messages.

The processor enables an operator to handle the alarm event based on thereceived alarm data (120). For example, the processor enables provisionof the alarm data to an electronic device (e.g., a computer, a terminal,etc.) that an operator uses to handle alarm events. The electronicdevice may determine information associated with the alarm event basedon the alarm data and render a display of the information to theoperator handling the event. The information associated with the alarmevent may include information identifying the type of alarm event, theuser, alarm system, or building associated with the alarm event, theparticular sensor giving rise to the alarm event, and any otherinformation associated with the alarm event that may be useful to theoperator in handling the alarm event. The operator may handle the alarmevent based on the information. For instance, the operator may determinewhether the alarm event is a real alarm event or a false alarm and theoperator may dispatch emergency services to a building associated withthe alarm event in response to determining that the alarm event is areal alarm.

In implementations in which the processor is included in an electronicdevice of a monitoring station, the processor may queue the alarm datafor processing by a next available operator. The next available operatormay access, from a queue, the alarm data associated with the alarm eventand handle the alarm event based on the alarm data. By queuing the alarmdata, the monitoring station may process alarm events in the order inwhich the alarm events occurred. In another example, the processor mayassign an operator to handle the alarm event and transmit the alarm datato an electronic device associated with the operator. In this example,the electronic device associated with the operator may determineinformation associated with the alarm event based on the alarm data andrender a display of the information to the operator handling the eventto enable the operator to handle the alarm event as discussed above.

In implementations in which the processor is included in an electronicdevice of an intermediary alarm server, the processor may forward thealarm data to a monitoring service to enable an operator to handle thealarm event. In these implementations, the intermediary alarm server mayprovide information to the monitoring service to enable the operator tohandle the alarm event. For example, the processor may determineinformation associated with the alarm event based on the alarm data andprovide the determined information to the monitoring service. Theprocessor also may format or convert the alarm data or informationdetermined based on the alarm data to a format used by the monitoringservice prior to forwarding the alarm data or the information to themonitoring service.

The processor accesses voice communication information associated withthe alarm system (130). For example, the processor may access atelephone number associated with a wireless communication moduleincluded in the alarm system. The processor may access the telephonenumber from electronic storage or may access the telephone number basedon a call received from the wireless communication module included inthe alarm system.

In implementations in which the processor accesses the voicecommunication information from electronic storage, the processor may usethe accessed information to place a call to the wireless communicationmodule included in the alarm system. For example, the processor mayaccess a telephone number for the wireless communication module includedin the alarm system and render a display of the telephone number to anoperator to enable the operator to place a call to the wirelesscommunication module included in the alarm system. In another example,the processor may access the telephone number and automatically place acall to the wireless communication module and connect the call to anoperator at a monitoring service. In further examples, the processor mayuse the accessed information to identify a call placed by the wirelesscommunication module included in the alarm system to the monitoringstation. For instance, the processor may access the voice communicationinformation associated with the alarm system to identify a call receivedfrom the wireless communication module included in the alarm system suchthat the processor may route the call to an operator handling an alarmevent associated with the alarm system. In some implementations, theprocessor may access voice communication information associated with thealarm system from electronic storage and transmit the accessed voicecommunication information to another electronic device.

In implementations in which the processor accesses voice communicationinformation based on a call received from the wireless communicationmodule included in the alarm system, the processor may use the accessedinformation to route the call to an operator handling the alarm eventassociated with the alarm system. For example, the processor mayreceive, over a wireless voice channel, a call from a wirelesscommunication module included in the alarm system. The processor mayidentify a number or other information associated with the wirelesscommunication module based on the received call and route the receivedcall to an appropriate operator based on the identified number. Theprocessor may identify the phone number of the wireless voice call fromthe wireless communication module using ANI, DNIS, or other similartechniques.

The processor establishes a voice communication session between acommunication device of the operator handling the alarm event and thealarm system over a wireless voice channel (140). For example, theprocessor may establish a voice communication session that includesexchanging cellular voice communications over a wireless voice channelconfigured to transport cellular voice communications. The voicecommunication session may be an intercom-like, two-way voicecommunication session with the alarm system. The two-way voicecommunication session may enable an operator to listen-in to an areathat is proximate to the sensor that caused detection of the alarm eventor enable the operator to communicate with a person who is in an areaproximate to the sensor. The processor may establish the voicecommunication session by facilitating placement of a call from thecommunication device of the operator to a wireless communication moduleincluded in the alarm system or by facilitating placement of a call fromthe wireless communication module included in the alarm system to thecommunication device of the operator.

For example, the wireless communication module may place a call that isrouted to the communication device of the operator a predetermined andconfigurable amount of time after the alarm system detects the alarmevent. In this example, the alarm system may transmit the alarm dataprior to placing the call such that by waiting the predetermined amountof time (e.g., fifteen seconds, forty-five seconds, etc.) theintermediary alarm server or monitoring station may receive the alarmdata prior to receiving the call. By receiving the alarm data prior toreceiving the call, the intermediary alarm server or the monitoringstation may ensure that the call is handled as a two-way voice callassociated with an alarm event and that the call is routed to theoperator handling the alarm event. The wireless communication module mayplace the call directly to the electronic communication device of theoperator or may place the call to another device that routes the call tothe communication device of the operator.

In other examples, the wireless communication module included in thealarm system may place a call that is routed to the communication deviceof the operator after receiving confirmation that alarm data transmittedby the alarm system has been received by an intermediary alarm server ora monitoring station. The confirmation may include voice communicationinformation for the communication device of the monitoring station(e.g., a telephone number for the operator handling the alarm event) orthe alarm system may maintain voice communication information for themonitoring station (e.g., a general telephone number for the monitoringstation) in electronic storage. For instance, an intermediary alarmserver may provide the alarm system with a phone number for an operatorat a monitoring station that the alarm system may call to establish thevoice communication session. In some implementations, the alarm systemmay maintain a general telephone number of a monitoring station that thealarm system calls each time an alarm event triggers a monitoringprocedure. In these implementations, the monitoring station may receivea call, analyze properties of the call (e.g., using ANI or DNIS),identify an operator handling the alarm event associated with the alarmsystem that placed the call, and route the call to the appropriateoperator.

The operator also may place a call from the communication deviceassociated with the operator to the wireless communication moduleincluded in the alarm system. For example, the processor may, inresponse to receiving alarm data associated with the alarm system,access voice communication information for the wireless communicationmodule included in the alarm system and render a display of the accessedvoice communication information to the operator. In this example, theoperator may use the voice communication information (e.g., a telephonenumber, etc.) to place a call to the wireless communication moduleincluded in the alarm system. The wireless communication module includedin the alarm system receives the call to establish the voicecommunication session.

In some implementations, the processor establishes the voicecommunication session soon after the alarm system detects the alarmevent. For example, the processor may establish the voice communicationsession in less than one minute after the alarm system detects the alarmevent or less than fifteen seconds after the alarm system detects thealarm event. Establishing the voice communication session soon after thealarm system detects the alarm event may be beneficial because the voicecommunication session may enable the operator to quickly determinewhether the alarm event is a real alarm event and provide prompt servicein the event that the alarm event is a real alarm event and people arein need of immediate assistance.

As discussed above, the processor establishes the voice communicationsession over a wireless voice channel. The wireless voice channel may bea communication medium a service provider or carrier uses to transmitvoice communications. Sending voice data through the wireless voicechannel may include processing operations such as digitization,compression, and encoding to optimize voice communications transmittedover the wireless voice channel. In some implementations, processingdata for transmission over a wireless voice channel may include samplingan analog waveform and transmitting sampled data over the wireless voicechannel. In these implementations, the sampled data is received over thewireless voice channel and the analog waveform is reconstructed based onthe received sampled data. The wireless voice channel is different fromthe wireless data channel over which the processor received the alarmdata. By receiving alarm data over the wireless data channel andestablishing the two-way voice communication session over a wirelessvoice channel that is decoupled from the wireless data channel, thebenefits of both transmission of data over a wireless data channel andtransmission of voice communications over a wireless voice channel maybe realized.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of an electronic system 200 configured toestablish a voice communication session between an alarm system and analarm operator. The electronic system 200 includes a network 205, analarm panel 210, a monitoring system 230, and an alarm server 240. Thenetwork 205 facilitates communications between the alarm panel 210, themonitoring system 230, and the alarm server 240.

The network 205 is configured to enable exchange of electroniccommunications between devices connected to the network 205. Forexample, the network 205 may be configured to enable exchange ofelectronic communications between the alarm panel 210, the monitoringsystem 230, and the alarm server 240. The network 205 may include, forexample, one or more of the Internet, Wide Area Networks (WANs), LocalArea Networks (LANs), analog or digital wired and wireless telephonenetworks (e.g., a public switched telephone network (PSTN), IntegratedServices Digital Network (ISDN), a cellular network, and DigitalSubscriber Line (DSL)), radio, television, cable, satellite, or anyother delivery or tunneling mechanism for carrying data. Network 205 mayinclude multiple networks or subnetworks, each of which may include, forexample, a wired or wireless data pathway. The network 205 may include acircuit-switched network, a packet-switched data network, or any othernetwork able to carry electronic communications (e.g., data or voicecommunications). For example, the network 205 may include networks basedon the Internet protocol (IP), asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), thePSTN, packet-switched networks based on IP, X.25, or Frame Relay, orother comparable technologies and may support voice using, for example,VoIP, or other comparable protocols used for voice communications. Thenetwork 205 may include one or more networks that include wireless datachannels and wireless voice channels.

The alarm panel 210 includes a controller 212, a wireless communicationmodule 214, a speaker 216, and a microphone 218. The controller 212 isconfigured to control an alarm system that includes the alarm panel 210.In some examples, the controller 212 may include a processor or othercontrol circuitry configured to execute instructions of a program thatcontrols operation of an alarm system. In these examples, the controller212 may be configured to receive input from sensors, detectors, or otherdevices included in the alarm system and control operations of devicesincluded in the alarm system. For example, the controller 212 may beconfigured to control operation of the wireless communication module214, the speaker 216, and the microphone 218 included in the alarm panel210.

The wireless communication module 214 is a communication deviceconfigured to exchange wireless communications over the network 205. Forexample, the wireless communication device 214 may be configured toexchange communications over a wireless data channel and a wirelessvoice channel. In this example, the wireless communication module maytransmit alarm data over a wireless data channel and establish a two-wayvoice communication session over a wireless voice channel. The wirelesscommunication device may include one or more of a GSM module, a radiomodem, cellular transmission module, or any type of module configured toexchange communications in one of the following formats: GSM or GPRS,CDMA, EDGE or EGPRS, EV-DO or EVDO, UMTS, or IP.

The speaker 216 may include an electromechanical transducer thatconverts an electrical signal into sound. The speaker 216 may receive anelectrical signal from the controller 212 and produce an audible outputbased on the electrical signal. For example, the controller 212, inresponse to detecting an alarm event, may send a signal to the speaker216 to cause the speaker to produce an audible alarm sound. In anotherexample, the controller 212 may send a signal representative of a voicecommunication to the speaker 216 to cause the speaker to produce anaudible output of the voice communication. In this example, thecontroller 212 may control the wireless communication module 214 toestablish a voice communication session over a wireless voice channeland provide an electrical signal to the speaker 216 to cause the speakerto produce an audible output of voice communications received in thevoice communication session by the wireless communication module 214. Inother examples, the wireless communication module may provide anelectrical signal representative of a voice communication directly tothe speaker 216. In some implementations, the speaker 216 may bepositioned in a location separate from the alarm panel such that thespeaker 216 may have a coverage area that is different from the locationof the alarm panel. In these implementations, the alarm system mayinclude multiple speakers to provide a larger coverage area, such as anentire building the alarm system is monitoring or areas proximate to allof the sensors included in the alarm system.

The microphone 218 may include an acoustic to electronic transducer orsensor that converts sound into an eletrical signal. The microphone 218may sense sound (e.g., from a person speaking proximate to themicrophone 218) and produce an electrical signal based on the sound. Forexample, the microphone 218 may sense sound produced in an areaproximate to the microphone 218 and send a signal representative of thesound to the controller 212. The controller 212 may determine a userinput control based on the signal or provide the signal to the wirelesscommunication module 214 to include as a voice communication in a voicecommunication session established by the wireless communication module214 with another entity (e.g., a monitoring station). In some examples,the microphone 218 may transmit the electrical signal directly to thewireless communication module 214 instead of transmitting the signalthrough the controller 212. In further implementations, the microphone218 may be positioned in a location separate from the alarm panel suchthat the microphone 218 may have a coverage area that is different fromthe location of the alarm panel. In these implementations, the alarmsystem may include multiple microphones to provide a larger coveragearea, such as an entire building the alarm system is monitoring or areasproximate to all of the sensors included in the alarm system.

The alarm system that includes the alarm panel 210 includes one or moresensors or detectors. For example, the alarm system may include multiplesensors 220 and 222. The sensors 220 and 222 may be contact sensors,motion sensors, glass breaker sensors, temperature sensors, smokesensors, carbon monoxide sensors, panic button sensors, or any othertype of sensor that senses an environmental or physical condition. Thesensors 220 and 222 communicate with the controller 212 overcommunication links 224 and 226. The communication links 224 and 226 maybe a wired or wireless data pathway configured to transmit signals fromthe sensors 220 and 222 to the controller 212. The sensors 220 and 222may continuously transmit sensed values to the controller 212,periodically transmit sensed values to the controller 212, or transmitsensed values to the controller 212 in response to a change in a sensedvalue. The controller 212 may receive signals from the sensors 220 and222 and detect an alarm event based on the sensed values. For example,the sensor 220 may be a contact sensor provided on a door to a residenceand the communication link 224 may be a wireless connection between thesensor 220 and the controller 212. In this example, the sensor 220 maysense that the door has been opened (e.g., absence of a connectionbetween contacts included as part of the sensor) and wirelessly transmitdata over communication link 224 to the controller 212 indicating thatthe door has been opened. The controller 212 receives the data from thesensor 220 over the communication link 224 and determines that an alarmevent (e.g., the door opened) has occurred based on the signal from thesensor 220. The controller 212 controls operation of the alarm systembased on the determination that the alarm event has occurred.

The monitoring system 230 is an electronic device (e.g., a server, host,etc.) configured to provide alarm monitoring service by exchangingcommunications with the alarm panel 210 and the alarm server 240 overthe network 205. For example, the monitoring system 230 may beconfigured to monitor alarm events generated by the alarm panel 210. Inthis example, the monitoring system 230 may exchange communications withthe wireless communication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210 toreceive information regarding alarm events detected by the alarm panel210. The monitoring system 230 may receive information regarding alarmevents from the wireless communication module 214 in wireless datacommunications transmitted over a wireless data channel.

In some implementations, the monitoring system 230 may be configured toestablish two-way voice communication sessions with the wirelesscommunication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210. In theseimplementations, the monitoring system 230 may establish a voicecommunication session with the wireless communication module 214 over awireless voice channel. The monitoring system 230 may establish atwo-way voice communication session with the wireless communicationmodule 214 included in the alarm panel 210 in response to receiving datafrom the alarm panel 210 indicating that an alarm event has occurred. Byestablishing a two-way voice communication session with the wirelesscommunication module 214, the monitoring system 230 may enable anoperator to handle an alarm event by listening in to an area covered bythe microphone 218 and providing voice communications to an area coveredby the speaker 216.

The monitoring system 230 includes multiple terminals 232 and 234. Theterminals 232 and 234 may be used by operators to process alarm events.For example, the monitoring system 230 may route alarm data to theterminals 232 and 234 to enable an operator to process the alarm data.The terminals 232 and 234 may include general-purpose computers (e.g.,desktop personal computers, workstations, or laptop computers) that areconfigured to receive alarm data from a server in the monitoring system230 and render a display of information based on the alarm data. Forexample, in the example described above, the controller 212 may controlthe wireless communication module 214 to transmit, over a wireless datachannel to the monitoring system 230, alarm data indicating that thesensor 220 detected the door opening. The monitoring system 230 mayreceive the alarm data and route the alarm data to the terminal 232 forprocessing by an operator associated with the terminal 232. The terminal232 may render a display to the operator that includes informationassociated with the alarm event (e.g., the name of the user of the alarmsystem, the address of the building the alarm system is monitoring, thetype of alarm event, etc.) and the operator may handle the alarm eventbased on the displayed information. Further, in this example, themonitoring system 230 may establish a voice communication sessionbetween the wireless communication module 214 and the terminal 232 (oranother device associated with the operator using the terminal 232) overa wireless voice channel. By establishing a voice communication session,the operator may listen in to an area covered by the microphone 218 andspeak to people in the area covered by the speaker 216. As such, theoperator may be able to determine whether the alarm event is real alarmevent or a false alarm and also may be able to provide more effectivehandling of the alarm event in the event that the alarm event is a realalarm event.

In some implementations, the terminals 232 and 234 may be mobile devicesor devices designed for a specific function. Although FIG. 2 illustratestwo terminals for brevity, actual implementations may include more (and,perhaps, many more) terminals.

The alarm server 240 is an electronic device (e.g., a server, host,etc.) configured to provide alarm monitoring services by exchangingelectronic communications with the alarm panel 210 and the monitoringsystem 230 over the network 205. For example, the alarm server 240 maybe configured to monitor alarm events generated by the alarm panel 210.In this example, the alarm server 240 may exchange electroniccommunications with the wireless communication module 214 included inthe alarm panel 210 to receive information regarding alarm eventsdetected by the alarm panel 210. The alarm server 240 may receiveinformation regarding alarm events from the wireless communicationmodule 214 in wireless data communications transmitted over a wirelessdata channel.

In some examples, the alarm server 240 may route the alarm data receivedfrom the wireless communication module 214 to the monitoring system 230.For example, the alarm server 240 may transmit the alarm data to themonitoring system 230 over the network 205. In this example, the alarmserver 240 may transmit the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 overa communication medium or channel other than a wireless data channel.For instance, the alarm server 240 may transmit the alarm data receivedfrom the wireless communication module 214 over the wireless datachannel to the monitoring system 230 over a wired telephone connection.The alarm server 240 may add information the alarm data received fromthe wireless communication module 214 and may convert or transform thealarm data into a format used by the monitoring system 230.

The alarm server 240 also may facilitate establishment of a voicecommunication session between the monitoring system 230 and the wirelesscommunication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210. For example,the alarm server 240 may provide telephone information to the monitoringsystem 230 or the wireless communication module 214 for use inestablishing a wireless voice communication session over a wirelessvoice channel. The alarm server 240 also may provide confirmationsignals to the wireless communication module and the monitoring systemregarding the receipt and transmission of alarm data. In someimplementations, the alarm panel 210 and the monitoring system 230directly exchange communications and the alarm server 240 is notnecessary.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a process 300 for establishing a voicecommunication session between an alarm system and an alarm operator. Forconvenience, particular components described with respect to FIG. 2 arereferenced as performing the process 300. However, similar methodologiesmay be applied in other implementations where different components areused to define the structure of the system, or where the functionalityis distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 (302). Forexample, the controller 212 may receive a signal from the sensor 220over the communication link 224. The signal may provide informationassociated with an alarm event or security breach. For instance, thesensor 220 may be a contact sensor attached to a door and the signal maybe a signal that the contact has been broken (e.g., that the door hasbeen opened). In other examples, the sensor 220 may be a smoke detectorand the signal may indicate that smoke has been detected by the smokedetector or the sensor 220 may be a motion detector and the signal mayindicate that motion has been detected by the motion detector.

The alarm panel 210 detects an alarm event based on the signal (304).For example, the controller 212 analyzes the signal received from thesensor 220 and determines whether an alarm event has occurred based onthe signal. The controller 212 may access a set of criteria used indetecting alarm events and compare the received signal to the set ofcriteria to determine whether an alarm event has occurred. For instance,the controller 212 may determine that an alarm event has occurred inresponse to receiving the signal from the sensor 220 when the alarmsystem has been set to an armed state.

In some implementations, the set of criteria may require multiplesignals from multiple sensors prior to detecting an alarm event or maycompare other factors, such as time and date, prior to detecting analarm event. For example, the controller 212 may detect an alarm eventonly when both a motion sensor and either a contact sensor or a glassbreaker sensor has been triggered. In this example, the user of thealarm system may have a pet that is capable of triggering the motionsensor such that detection of the motion sensor alone should not triggeran alarm event unless detected in combination with another sensor. Inanother example, the controller 212 may compare the signal with a timeor date associated with the received signal in detecting an alarm event.In this example, the alarm panel 210 only may detect an alarm event ifthe signal is received at a particular date and/or time.

In response to detecting an alarm event, the alarm panel 210 transmitsalarm data to the alarm server 240 (306). For example, the wirelesscommunication module 214 may transmit the alarm data over a wirelessdata channel to the alarm server 240. In some implementations, thewireless communication module 214 may send the alarm data in IP packetsover a wireless data channel configured to transport IP packets. Inother implementations, the wireless communication module 214 may sendthe alarm data in an SMS message over a wireless data channel configuredto transport SMS messages. In implementations in which the wirelesscommunication module 214 communicates directly with the monitoringsystem 230, the wireless communication module 214 may send the alarmdata directly to the monitoring system 230 and the alarm server 240 isnot necessary.

The alarm data includes information sufficient for the alarm server 240to handle the alarm event. For instance, the alarm data may includeinformation identifying the alarm panel 210, the user of the alarm panel210, or the location associated with the alarm panel 210. The alarm datamay include a customer account number with which the alarm server 240may access stored information associated with the customer's account. Inaddition, the alarm data may include information indicating the type ofalarm event (e.g., security breach, fire alarm, etc.), the type ofservices needed (e.g., police services, fire services, etc.), and thespecific sensor or detected condition that triggered the alarm event(e.g., basement door sensor, third floor smoke detector, etc.).

The alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from the wirelesscommunication module 214 (308). For instance, the alarm server 240receives the alarm data over the wireless data channel using a wirelesscommunication interface. Upon receipt of the alarm data, the alarmserver 240 processes the alarm data to determine information associatedwith the alarm event. In some implementations, the alarm server 240extracts an account number from the alarm data and accesses, fromelectronic storage associated with the alarm server 240, informationassociated with the account number. The alarm server 240 may accessinformation related to the address of the location that the alarm systemassociated with the account number is protecting, information related tothe name and telephone number of the user associated with the accountnumber, and information related to the monitoring system or serviceassociated with the account number. For instance, the alarm server 240may access information identifying the monitoring system 230 as themonitoring system used by the customer associated with the accountnumber and also access information associated with contacting themonitoring system 230. The alarm server 240 may use the accessedinformation to forward the alarm data to the monitoring system 230.

The alarm server, optionally, converts the alarm data (310). The alarmserver 240 may convert the content of the alarm data from a first formatinto a second format used by the monitoring system 230. In addition, thealarm server 240 may convert the protocol used to transmit the alarmdata from a first communication protocol used by the alarm panel 210 toa second communication protocol used by the monitoring system 230. Inone example, the alarm server 240 may receive the alarm data as IPpackets transmitted over a wireless data channel and may convert thealarm data into a digital dialer signal for transmission over a POTStelephone line. In another example, the alarm server 240 may receive thealarm data in an SMS message transmitted over a wireless data channeland may convert the alarm data into IP packets for transmission over anIP-based network.

In some implementations, the alarm server 240 may add information to thealarm data prior to transmitting the alarm data to the monitoring system230. For instance, the alarm server may add information associated withthe customer's account (e.g., the customer's phone number) or otherinformation required by the monitoring system 230 to process the alarmdata (e.g., an account number for the monitoring system 230). Becausethe monitoring system 230 may not recognize an account number associatedwith the alarm server 240, the alarm server 240 may have to addadditional identifying data to the alarm data to enable the monitoringsystem 230 to identify the customer associated with the alarm panel 210.

The alarm server 240 transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system230 (312). For example, the alarm server 240 forwards the alarm datareceived from the alarm panel 210 to the monitoring system 230. In thisexample, the alarm server 240 may directly forward the received alarmdata or may convert or supplement the received alarm data. In someimplementations, the alarm server 240 transmits the alarm data to themonitoring system 230 using a communication medium that is differentfrom the communication medium from which the alarm server 240 receivedthe alarm data. For instance, the alarm server 240 may receive the alarmdata from the wireless communication module 214 included in the alarmpanel 210 over a wireless data channel and may transmit the alarm datato the monitoring system over a POTS telephone line.

The monitoring system 230 receives the alarm data (314) and assigns thealarm data for operator processing (316). For example, the monitoringsystem 230 receives the alarm data over the network 205 in an electroniccommunication from the alarm server 240 and processes the alarm data toenable an operator to handle the alarm event. In some implementations,the monitoring system assigns an operator to process the alarm event andsends the alarm data to a terminal associated with the assigned operator(e.g., terminal 232 or 234). In other implementations, the monitoringsystem 230 places the alarm data in a queue for processing by the nextavailable operator and the next available operator accesses the alarmdata from the queue.

In assigning the alarm data for operator processing, the monitoringsystem 230 may process the alarm data and extract information from thealarm data that is needed by the operator to handle the alarm event. Themonitoring system 230 also may access, from electronic storageassociated with the monitoring system, information that an operator mayuse in handling the alarm event (e.g., name, address, telephone number,etc.). In some implementations, the monitoring system 230 may assign apriority to processing the alarm data and place the alarm data in thequeue for processing based on the priority. For example, the monitoringsystem 230 may assign a higher priority to a smoke alarm event receivedfor a residence at a time when people are assumed to be sleeping in theresidence than a smoke alarm event received for a commercial building ata time when people are assumed to absent from the commercial building.

The monitoring system 230 transmits a confirmation message indicatingreceipt of the alarm data to the alarm server 240 (318). For example,the monitoring system 230 transmits a confirmation message to the alarmserver 240 in an electronic communication over the network 205. In thisexample, the confirmation message may indicate that the monitoringsystem 230 received the alarm data properly and that the monitoringsystem 230 is handling the alarm event.

The alarm server 240 receives the confirmation message from themonitoring system 230 (320). For example, the alarm server 240 receivesthe confirmation message from the monitoring system 230 in an electroniccommunication over the network 205. The alarm server 240 may process theconfirmation message to ensure that the monitoring system 230 receivedaccurate alarm data. In addition, the alarm server 240 may determinethat additional transmission of the alarm data in not needed because themonitoring system 230 has confirmed receipt of the alarm data.

The alarm server 240 transmits the confirmation message to the alarmpanel 210 (322). For example, the alarm server 240 forwards theconfirmation message received from the monitoring system 230 to thealarm panel 210 over the network 205. In this example, the alarm server240 may directly forward the received confirmation message or mayconvert or supplement the received confirmation message. In someimplementations, the alarm server 240 transmits the confirmation messageto the alarm panel 210 using a communication medium that is differentfrom the communication medium from which the alarm server 240 receivedthe confirmation message. For instance, the alarm server 240 may receivethe confirmation message from the monitoring system 230 over a POTStelephone line and may transmit the confirmation message to the wirelesscommunication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210 over a wirelessdata channel.

The alarm panel 210 receives the confirmation message (324) and places awireless voice call to the monitoring system 230 (326). For example, thewireless communication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210receives the confirmation message over the network 205 in an electroniccommunication from the alarm server 240. In response to receiving theconfirmation message, the controller 212 included in the alarm panel 210may access information associated with a telephone number of themonitoring system 230 and place a wireless voice call to the telephonenumber associated with the monitoring system 230 using the wirelesscommunication module 214. The controller 212 may access the telephonenumber for the monitoring system 230 from electronic storage associatedwith the alarm panel 210 or may receive the telephone number for themonitoring system 230 in the confirmation message or another messagefrom the alarm server 240.

In some implementations, the wireless communication module 214 includedin the alarm panel 210 places the call to the monitoring system over awireless voice channel that is different from the wireless data channelwith which the wireless communication module 214 transmitted the alarmdata to the alarm server 240. As discussed above, transmitting the alarmdata over a wireless data channel optimized for transmitting data andplacing the wireless voice call over a wireless voice channel that isoptimized for transmitting voice communications may provide benefits oftransmitting data over the wireless data channel and benefits oftransmitting voice communications over the wireless voice channel.

By waiting for the confirmation message indicating that the monitoringsystem 230 has received the alarm data prior to placing the wirelessvoice call, the establishment of a two-way voice communication sessionmay be coordinated with the transmission of the alarm data such that themonitoring system 230 may appropriately handle the wireless voice call.For instance, had the wireless communication module 214 placed thewireless voice call prior to the monitoring system 230 receiving thealarm data, the monitoring system 230 may handle the wireless voice callas an ordinary call and not process the call to establish a two-wayvoice communication session. Alternatively, by waiting for receipt of aconfirmation message prior to placing the wireless voice call, the alarmpanel 210 may ensure that the monitoring system 230 has the alarm dataand is capable of associating the wireless voice call with the properalarm event to establish a two-way voice communication session betweenthe operator handling the alarm event and the alarm panel 210.

The monitoring system 230 receives the wireless voice call (328). Forexample, the monitoring system 230 receives the wireless voice callplaced by the wireless communication module 214 over a wireless voicechannel and routed to the monitoring system 230 by a wireless serviceprovider associated with the wireless communication module 214. Themonitoring system 230 may receive the call using a telephone exchange(e.g., a PBX) or telephone switch.

The monitoring system 230 identifies the alarm panel 210 based on thereceived call (330). For example, the monitoring systems 230 identifiesthe call as being from the alarm panel 210 based on a telephone numberassociated with the received call. In this example, the monitoringsystem 230 may identify the call as being from the wirelesscommunication module 214 included in the alarm panel by using ANI, DNIS,or other similar techniques. For instance, the monitoring system 230 mayidentify a customer account number associated with the alarm panel 210by looking up the customer account number associated with the ANI orDNIS information for the received call. Other methods of identifying thecall as being from the alarm panel 210 may be used.

The monitoring system 230 identifies the operator handling the alarmdata for the alarm panel 210 (332). In some implementations, themonitoring system 230 may determine that the received call is from thealarm panel 210 and then identify which operator is handling the alarmevent associated with the alarm data sent from the alarm panel 210. Forexample, the monitoring system 230 may identify a customer accountnumber associated with the received call based on the ANI or DNISinformation and then identify an operator handling the alarm dataassociated with the identified customer account number.

The monitoring system 230 routes the call from the alarm panel 210 tothe operator handling the alarm data associated with the alarm panel 210(334). For example, the monitoring system 230 may access communicationinformation associated with the operator identified as handling thealarm data associated with the alarm panel 210 and route the call to acommunication device used by the operator based on the accessedcommunication information. In this example, the monitoring system 230may access a telephone number for the operator handling the alarm dataand route the call to the operator's telephone number. By routing thecall to the operator's telephone number, the operator may answer thetelephone call and establish a two-way voice communication session withthe alarm panel 210. The two-way voice communication session may enablethe operator to listen-in to an area proximate to the microphone 218included in the alarm panel 210 and speak to people that are in an areaproximate to the speaker 216 included in the alarm panel 210.

Using the two-way voice communication session, the operator maydetermine whether the alarm event associated with the alarm data is areal alarm event or a false alarm. For instance, the operator may ask aperson in an area proximate to the speaker 216 for a secret code if theperson indicates that the alarm event is a false alarm and determinethat the alarm event is a false alarm if the correct secret code isprovided. In addition, the operator may provide better emergencyservices using the two-way voice communication session. For example, theoperator may be able to communicate with a person who is incapacitatedin an area proximate to the alarm panel 210 and send medical assistancefor the person. In this example, the incapacitated person may have noother way to communicate with the operator or emergency services (e.g.,the person could not get up to place or answer a phone call) withoutestablishing the two-way voice communication session.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of a process 400 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and an alarmoperator. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 2 are referenced as performing the process 400. However, similarmethodologies may be applied in other implementations where differentcomponents are used to define the structure of the system, or where thefunctionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 (402) anddetects an alarm event based on the signal (404). For example, the alarmpanel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 and detects an alarmevent based on the signal using techniques described above with respectto steps 302 and 304 shown in FIG. 3.

In response to detecting an alarm event, the alarm panel 210 transmitsalarm data to the alarm server 240 (406). For example, the alarm panel210 transmits alarm data to the alarm server 240 using techniquesdescribed above with respect to step 306 shown in FIG. 3.

The alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from the wirelesscommunication module 214 (408), optionally converts the alarm data(410), and transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 (412).For example, the alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from thewireless communication module 214, optionally converts the alarm data,and transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 using thetechniques described above with respect to steps 308, 310, and 312 shownin FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 receives the alarm data (414) and transmits aconfirmation message indicating receipt of the alarm data to the alarmserver 240 (416). For example, the monitoring system 230 receives thealarm data and transmits a confirmation message indicating receipt ofthe alarm data to the alarm server 240 using techniques described abovewith respect to steps 314 and 318 shown in FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 determines that the alarm panel 210 has atwo-way voice feature (418). For example, the monitoring system 230processes the alarm data to determine whether the alarm panel 210associated with the alarm data has a two-way voice feature. In someimplementations, the alarm data may include information indicatingwhether the alarm panel 210 associated with the alarm data has a two-wayvoice feature. In these implementations, a code or part of an accountnumber included in the alarm data may indicate whether the alarm panel210 associated with the alarm data has a two-way voice feature and themonitoring system 230 may determine whether the alarm panel 210 has atwo-way voice feature by extracting the code or part of the accountnumber and comparing the code or part of the account number to knowninformation. In other implementations, the monitoring system 230 mayidentify the alarm panel 210 based on the alarm data and access, fromelectronic storage associated with the monitoring system 230,information indicating whether the alarm panel has a two-way voicefeature. In some examples, the monitoring system 230 may determine amodel number associated with the alarm panel 210 and access informationindicating whether alarm panels with that model number have a two-wayfeature. In other examples, the monitoring system 230 may accessinformation associated with the customer using the alarm panel 210 anddetermine whether the customer has subscribed for monitoring servicesthat include a two-way voice feature.

In response to determining that the alarm panel 210 has a two-way voicefeature, the monitoring system 230 holds the alarm data (420). Forexample, the monitoring system 230 may hold the alarm data in temporarystorage until the monitoring system 230 receives a call from the alarmpanel 210 or a predetermined and configurable amount of time passes. Inthis example, the monitoring system 230 may not assign the alarm datafor operator processing until a call is received from the alarm panel210 such that the alarm data and the call from the alarm panel 210 maybe routed to an operator at the same time. The monitoring system 230assigns the alarm data for operator processing after a predetermined andconfigurable amount of time passes such that the alarm data is processedwithout two-way voice services in the event that establishing a two-wayvoice communication session fails. The predetermined amount of time maybe equal or greater than an amount of time (e.g., one minute)anticipated for receiving a call from the alarm panel or an amount oftime determined to be an acceptable delay in responding to an alarmevent.

In some implementations, if the predetermined and configurable amount oftime passes, the monitoring system 230 may initiate processing of thealarm data, send a command to the alarm panel 210 or the alarm server240 indicating that the monitoring system 230 is waiting to receive acall, or place a call to the alarm panel 210. The monitoring system 230may send a command to the alarm panel 210 instructing the alarm panel210 to stop attempting to call the monitoring system 230 and wait for acall from the monitoring system 230. The monitoring system 230 then mayplace a call to the alarm panel 210.

The alarm server 240 receives the confirmation message from themonitoring system 230 (422) and transmits the confirmation message tothe alarm panel 210 (424). For example, the alarm server 240 receivesthe confirmation message from the monitoring system 230 and transmitsthe confirmation message to the alarm panel 210 using techniquesdescribed above with respect to steps 320 and 322 shown in FIG. 3.

The alarm panel 210 receives the confirmation message (426) and places awireless voice call to the monitoring system 230 (428). For example, thealarm panel 210 receives the confirmation message and places a wirelessvoice call to the monitoring system 230 using techniques described abovewith respect to steps 324 and 326 shown in FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 receives the wireless voice call (430) andidentifies the alarm panel 210 based on the received call (432). Forexample, the monitoring system 230 receives the wireless voice call andidentifies the alarm panel 210 based on the received call usingtechniques described above with respect to steps 328 and 330 shown inFIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 associates the call with the held alarm data(434). In some implementations, the monitoring system 230 may determinethat the received call is from the alarm panel 210 and identify heldalarm data sent from the alarm panel 210. For example, the monitoringsystem 230 may identify a customer account number associated with thereceived call based on ANI or DNIS information and then identify heldalarm data associated with the identified customer account number. Inthis example, the monitoring system 230 may analyze held alarm datastored in temporary storage and identify held alarm data associated withthe customer account number.

The monitoring system identifies an available operator (436) and routesthe held alarm data and the call received from the alarm panel 210 tothe available operator (438). For example, the monitoring system 230analyzes information regarding the status of operators of the monitoringsystem 230 and identifies an operator that is currently available (e.g.,not currently handling another alarm event). In this example, themonitoring system 230 may access communication information associatedwith the available operator, route the alarm data to a terminalassociated with the available operator based on the accessedcommunication information, and route the call received from the alarmpanel 210 to a communication device used by the operator based on theaccessed communication information. For instance, the monitoring system230 may access an IP address and a telephone number for the availableoperator, route the alarm data to the IP address associated with theavailable operator, and route the call to the operator's telephonenumber. By providing the alarm data to the available operator androuting the call to the operator's telephone number, the operator mayhandle the alarm event and answer the telephone call to establish atwo-way voice communication session with the alarm panel 210. Thetwo-way voice communication session may enable the operator to listen-into an area proximate to the microphone 218 included in the alarm panel210 and speak to people that are in an area proximate to the speaker 216included in the alarm panel 210. Providing the held alarm data to theavailable operator and routing the call to the available operator'stelephone number at the same time, enables coordination of theestablishment of a two-way voice communication session between theoperator and the alarm panel 210 when the alarm data is transmittedusing a communication medium (e.g., a wireless data channel) that isdifferent from a communication medium used to establish the two-wayvoice communication session (e.g., a wireless voice channel).

FIG. 5 illustrates a further example of a process 500 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and an alarmoperator. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 2 are referenced as performing the process 500. However, similarmethodologies may be applied in other implementations where differentcomponents are used to define the structure of the system, or where thefunctionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 (502) anddetects an alarm event based on the signal (504). For example, the alarmpanel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 and detects an alarmevent based on the signal using techniques described above with respectto steps 302 and 304 shown in FIG. 3.

In response to detecting an alarm event, the alarm panel 210 transmitsalarm data to the alarm server 240 (506). For example, the alarm panel210 transmits alarm data to the alarm server 240 using techniquesdescribed above with respect to step 306 shown in FIG. 3.

The alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from the wirelesscommunication module 214 (508), optionally converts the alarm data(510), and transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 (512).For example, the alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from thewireless communication module 214, optionally converts the alarm data,and transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 using thetechniques described above with respect to steps 308, 310, and 312 shownin FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 receives the alarm data (514) and assigns thealarm data for operator processing (516). For example, the monitoringsystem 230 receives the alarm data and assigns the alarm data foroperator processing using techniques described above with respect tosteps 314 and 316 shown in FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 enables an available operator to process thealarm data and handle the alarm event associated with the alarm data(518). For example, the monitoring system 230 transmits the alarm dataor other information based on the alarm data to a terminal associatedwith an available operator. The terminal associated with the availableoperator renders a display to the operator based on the alarm data orthe other information based on the alarm data. Using the displayedinformation, the operator begins to handle the alarm event associatedwith the alarm data. The display may include user interface elementswith which the operator may interact to provide user input to theterminal to handle the alarm event.

The monitoring system 230 determines that the alarm panel 210 has atwo-way voice feature (520). For example, the operator may determinethat the alarm panel 210 has a two-way voice feature based oninformation provided on the display rendered on the operator's terminal.In some examples, the monitoring system 230 processes the alarm data todetermine whether the alarm panel 210 associated with the alarm data hasa two-way voice feature using the techniques described above withrespect to step 418 shown in FIG. 4.

The monitoring system 230 transmits a command to initiate a voice call(522). For instance, the operator may send a command to initiate a voicecall by interacting with user interface elements displayed by theterminal associated with the operator. In some implementations, themonitoring system 230 may determine that the operator has begunprocessing the alarm data and automatically transmit the command toinitiate a voice call. The command may include a telephone numberassociated with the monitoring system 230 to which the alarm panel 210may place the call. In some examples, the command may include atelephone number of a communication device associated with the operatorthat has begun processing the alarm data. In these examples, the callplaced by the alarm panel 210 may be directly routed to thecommunication device associated with the operator processing the alarmdata such that a two-way voice communication session may be establishedwith the operator without any additional routing.

The alarm server 240 receives the command from the monitoring system 230(524) and transmits the command to the alarm panel 210 (526). Forexample, the alarm server 240 receives the command from the monitoringsystem 230 in an electronic communication over the network 205 andforwards the command received from the monitoring system 230 to thealarm panel 210 over the network 205. In this example, the alarm server240 may directly forward the received command or may convert orsupplement the received command such that the command sent to the alarmpanel 210 is appropriate. For instance, the alarm server 240 may addtelephone number information for the monitoring system 230 to thecommand prior to transmitting the command to the alarm panel 210.

In some implementations, the alarm server 240 transmits the command tothe alarm panel 210 using a communication medium that is different fromthe communication medium from which the alarm server 240 received thecommand. For instance, the alarm server 240 may receive the command fromthe monitoring system 230 over a POTS telephone line and may transmitthe command to the wireless communication module 214 included in thealarm panel 210 over a wireless data channel.

The alarm panel 210 receives the command (528) and accesses telephonenumber information for the monitoring system 230 (530). For example, thewireless communication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210receives the command over the network 205 in an electronic communicationfrom the alarm server 240. In response to receiving the command, thecontroller 212 included in the alarm panel 210 may access informationassociated with a telephone number of the monitoring system 230. Thecontroller 212 may access the telephone number for the monitoring system230 from electronic storage associated with the alarm panel 210 or mayaccess the telephone number for the monitoring system 230 frominformation included in the command or another message from the alarmserver 240. In implementations in which the controller 212 accesses thetelephone number from information included in the command, the telephonenumber may be a direct dial telephone number for the operator that ishandling the alarm event associated with the alarm panel 210 andinitiated transmission of the command.

In response to receiving the command and accessing the telephone numberinformation, the alarm panel 210 places a wireless voice call to themonitoring system 230 based on the accessed telephone numberinformation. For example, the alarm panel 210 places a call to themonitoring system 230 at an accessed telephone number using the wirelesscommunication module 214. By placing the wireless voice call in responseto receiving the command transmitted from the monitoring system, theestablishment of a two-way voice communication session between theoperator handling the alarm data and the alarm panel 210 may becoordinated with the transmission of the alarm data even when differentcommunication mediums are used for transmitting alarm data andestablishing the two-way voice communication session. The alarm panel210 may place a call to the monitoring system 230 using techniquesdescribed above with respect to step 326 shown in FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 receives the wireless voice call (534),identifies the alarm panel 210 based on the call (536), identifies theoperator handling the alarm data (538), and routes the call to theoperator handling the alarm data (540). For example, the monitoringsystem 230 receives the wireless voice call, identifies the alarm panel210 based on the call, identifies the operator handling the alarm data,and routes the call to the operator handling the alarm data usingtechniques described above with respect to steps 328, 330, 332, and 334shown in FIG. 3. In implementations in which the command includes thetelephone number of the operator handling the alarm data, the alarmpanel 210 may place the call directly to a communication device of theoperator handling the alarm data and identifying the alarm panel 210based on the call, identifying the operator handling the alarm data, androuting the call to the operator handling the alarm data may not benecessary.

FIG. 6A illustrates another example of a process 600 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and an alarmoperator. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 2 are referenced as performing the process 600. However, similarmethodologies may be applied in other implementations where differentcomponents are used to define the structure of the system, or where thefunctionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 (602) anddetects an alarm event based on the signal (604). For example, the alarmpanel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 and detects an alarmevent based on the signal using techniques described above with respectto steps 302 and 304 shown in FIG. 3.

In response to detecting an alarm event, the alarm panel 210 transmitsalarm data to the alarm server 240 (606). For example, the alarm panel210 transmits alarm data to the alarm server 240 using techniquesdescribed above with respect to step 306 shown in FIG. 3.

The alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from the wirelesscommunication module 214 (608), optionally converts the alarm data(610), and transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 (612).For example, the alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from thewireless communication module 214, optionally converts the alarm data,and transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 using thetechniques described above with respect to steps 308, 310, and 312 shownin FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 receives the alarm data (614) and assigns thealarm data for operator processing (616). For example, the monitoringsystem 230 receives the alarm data and assigns the alarm data foroperator processing using techniques described above with respect tosteps 314 and 316 shown in FIG. 3.

The monitoring system 230 enables an available operator to process thealarm data and handle the alarm event associated with the alarm data(618) and determines that the alarm panel 210 has a two-way voicefeature (620). For example, the monitoring system 230 enables anavailable operator to process the alarm data and handle the alarm eventassociated with the alarm data and determines that the alarm panel 210has a two-way voice feature using techniques described above withrespect to steps 518 and 520 shown in FIG. 5.

The monitoring system 230 accesses a telephone number associated withthe alarm panel 210 (622). For example, the monitoring system 230identifies that the alarm data was received from the alarm panel 210 andaccesses a telephone number associated with the alarm panel 210 fromelectronic storage. In this example, the monitoring system 230 mayidentify a customer account number associated with the alarm data andaccess a telephone for the alarm panel 210 associated with theidentified customer account number. In some implementations, themonitoring system 230 may access the telephone number for the alarmpanel 210 from the alarm data. In these implementations, the alarm panel210 may include a telephone number for the alarm panel 210 in the alarmdata the alarm panel 210 transmits to the alarm server 240 or the alarmserver 240 may add a telephone number for the alarm panel 210 to thealarm data prior to transmitting the alarm data to the monitoring system230. In other examples, the operator may access the telephone number forthe alarm panel 210 after beginning to process the alarm data.

The monitoring system 230 places a wireless voice call to the alarmpanel 210 (624). For example, the monitoring system 230 places awireless voice call over a wireless voice channel to the alarm panel 210using the accessed telephone number for the alarm panel 210. Themonitoring system 230 may automatically place the wireless voice call tothe alarm panel 210 and connect the call to a communication deviceassociated with the operator handling the alarm event. The monitoringsystem 230 also may display the accessed telephone number to theoperator handling the alarm event and the operator may place a call tothe alarm panel 210. By having the monitoring system 230 place a call tothe alarm panel 210 after an operator has been assigned to process alarmdata received for the alarm panel 210, the monitoring system 230coordinates the establishment of a two-way voice communication sessionbetween the operator handling the alarm event and the alarm panel 210with the receipt of the alarm data.

The alarm panel 210 receives the wireless voice call (626). For example,the wireless communication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210may be configured to receive incoming calls and may receive the callfrom the monitoring system 230. After receiving the call, the wirelesscommunication module 214 may establish a two-way voice communicationsession with a communication device associated with the operatorhandling the alarm event for the monitoring system 230. The two-wayvoice communication session may enable the operator to listen-in to anarea proximate to the microphone 218 included in the alarm panel 210 andspeak to people that are in an area proximate to the speaker 216included in the alarm panel 210.

In some implementations, security measures may be implemented to preventthe alarm panel 210 from answering incoming calls that are unrelated toalarm events. For example, the wireless communication module 214included in the alarm panel 210 only may accept incoming calls apredetermined and configurable amount of time after transmitting alarmdata or only may accept incoming calls from trusted phone numbers. Inother arrangements, the wireless communication module 214 included inthe alarm panel 210 only may accept an incoming call that includes apassword or other identifying information that the wirelesscommunication module 214 may use to authenticate or verify thetrustworthiness of the call.

FIG. 6B illustrates a further example of a process 650 for establishinga voice communication session between an alarm system and an alarmoperator. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 2 are referenced as performing the process 650. However, similarmethodologies may be applied in other implementations where differentcomponents are used to define the structure of the system, or where thefunctionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 (652) anddetects an alarm event based on the signal (654). For example, the alarmpanel 210 receives a signal from the sensor 220 and detects an alarmevent based on the signal using techniques described above with respectto steps 302 and 304 shown in FIG. 3.

In response to detecting an alarm event, the alarm panel 210 transmitsalarm data to the alarm server 240 (656). For example, the alarm panel210 transmits alarm data to the alarm server 240 using techniquesdescribed above with respect to step 306 shown in FIG. 3.

The alarm server 240 receives the alarm data from the wirelesscommunication module 214 (658). For example, the alarm server 240receives the alarm data from the wireless communication module 214 usingthe techniques described above with respect to steps 308 shown in FIG.3.

In response to receiving the alarm data, the alarm server 240 waits fora call from the alarm panel 210 (660). For instance, the alarm server240 delays processing of the alarm data and monitors incoming calls forcalls from the alarm panel 210. If the alarm server 240 does not receivea call from the alarm panel 210 in a predetermined and configurableamount of time, the alarm server 240 may initiate processing of thealarm data (e.g., transmit the alarm data to the monitoring system 230as shown with the broken line), place a call to the alarm panel 210, orsend a command to the alarm panel 210 instructing the alarm panel 210 toplace a call to the alarm server 240.

After transmitting the alarm data to the alarm server 240, the alarmpanel 210 accesses a number for the alarm server 240 (662) and places acall to the alarm server 240 (664). For example, the alarm panel 210accesses, from electronic storage, a telephone number associated withthe alarm server 240 and places a call to the alarm server 240 over awireless voice channel. The alarm server 240 also may access a telephonenumber by receiving the telephone number in an electronic communicationfrom the alarm server 240 or another electronic device. The alarm panel210 may wait a predetermined amount of time prior to placing the call toincrease the likelihood that the alarm server 240 receives the alarmdata prior to receiving the call.

The alarm server 240 receives the call from the alarm panel 210 (666).For example, the alarm server 240 receives a wireless voice call placedby the wireless communication module 214 over a wireless voice channeland routed to the alarm server 240 by a wireless service providerassociated with the wireless communication module 214. The alarm server240 identifies the call as being from the alarm panel 210 and associatesthe call with the alarm data the alarm server 240 previously receivedfrom the alarm panel 210.

In response to receiving the call from the alarm panel 210, the alarmserver 240 transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230. Forexample, the alarm server 240 transmits the alarm data to the monitoringsystem 230 over a POTS telephone line. The alarm server 240 may forwardthe received alarm data unchanged, or it may convert or supplement thereceived alarm data. In some implementations, the alarm server 240transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 using acommunication medium that is different from the communication mediumfrom which the alarm server 240 received the alarm data. For instance,the alarm server 240 may receive the alarm data from the wirelesscommunication module 214 included in the alarm panel 210 over a wirelessdata channel and may transmit the alarm data to the monitoring system230 over a POTS telephone line.

The monitoring system 230 receives the alarm data (670) and assigns thealarm data for operator processing (672). For example, the monitoringsystem 230 receives the alarm data and assigns the alarm data foroperator processing using techniques described above with respect tosteps 314 and 316 shown in FIG. 3.

After transmitting the alarm data to the monitoring system 230, thealarm server 240 patches the call received from the alarm panel 210 tothe monitoring system 230 (674). In implementations in which the alarmserver 240 transmits the alarm data to the monitoring system 230 over aPOTS telephone line, the alarm server 240 patches the wireless voicecall received from the alarm panel 210 onto the POTS telephone line withwhich the alarm server 240 transmitted the alarm data. By patching thewireless voice call from the alarm panel 210 onto the POTS telephoneline with which the alarm server 240 transmitted the alarm data, thealarm server 240 may ensure that the voice call is routed to theoperator handling the alarm data. For instance, the monitoring system230 may treat the alarm server 240 as an alarm system monitored over aPOTS telephone line. As such, the monitoring system 230 may receive thealarm data and establish a two-way voice communication session usingtechniques similar to those used for other alarm systems monitoreddirectly over a POTS telephone line.

In patching the call received from the alarm panel 210 to the monitoringsystem 230, the alarm server 240 may initiate a call to the monitoringsystem 230 (e.g., after receiving confirmation from the monitoringsystem 230 of receipt of the alarm data) or may receive a call from themonitoring system 230. The alarm server 240 may connect the voice callestablished with the alarm panel to a voice call established with themonitoring system 230.

The monitoring system 230 establishes a two-way voice communicationsession (676). For instance, the monitoring system 230 routes orotherwise connects the patched voice call from the alarm server 240 to acommunication device associated with the operator handling the alarmdata. The operator may answer the call and establish a two-way voicecommunication session with the alarm panel 210 through the alarm server240. The two-way voice communication session may be an intercom-likecommunication session between the operator and the alarm panel 210. Thetwo-way voice communication session may enable the operator to listen-into an area that is proximate to the alarm panel 210 or enable theoperator to communicate with a person who is in an area proximate to thealarm panel 210.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of a process 700 for establishing a voicecommunication session between an alarm system and an alarm operatorusing shelf and slot numbers. The operations in flow chart 700 aredescribed generally as being performed by a processor. In someimplementations, the processor may be included in an electronic deviceor system configured to send and receive communications over a network.For example, the processor may be included in an alarm server, a centralmonitoring station server, or another type of electronic device includedin a system configured to monitor an alarm system. In another example,the operations of process 700 may be performed by multiple processorsincluded in one or more electronic devices or systems.

The processor receives alarm data transmitted by an alarm system over awireless data channel in response to the alarm system detecting an alarmevent (710). For example, the processor may be included in anintermediary alarm server and the processor may receive data transmittedfrom an alarm system to the intermediary alarm server in response thealarm system detecting an alarm event (e.g., a security breach, a smokedetection event, etc.). The processor may receive alarm data transmittedby an alarm system over a wireless data channel in response to the alarmsystem detecting an alarm event using techniques described above withrespect to step 110 shown in FIG. 1.

The processor accesses an available shelf/slot number associated with amonitoring system (720). For example, the processor may be included inan intermediary alarm server and the intermediary alarm server maymaintain a list of available shelf/slot numbers associated with themonitoring system. In this example, the intermediary alarm server andthe monitoring system may have an agreement by which the monitoringsystem allocates a pool of available shelf/slot number to theintermediary alarm server and assigns the allocated shelf/slot numbersto PBX extensions included in a PBX of the monitoring system.

The intermediary alarm server may maintain the allocated pairs ofshelf/slot numbers and PBX extensions in electronic storage and assignan allocated pair to an alarm system that detects an alarm event. Forinstance, in response to receiving the alarm data from the alarm system,the processor included in the intermediary alarm server may access anavailable shelf/slot number from its allocated pool of shelf/slotnumbers. An available shelf/slot number may be one that is not currentlyassigned to an alarm system that has detected an alarm event. Todetermine whether shelf/slot numbers are available, the processor maymaintain data indicating which shelf/slot numbers are currently assignedto alarm systems and identify an available shelf/slot in response toreceiving the alarm data by accessing the data indicating whichshelf/slot numbers are currently assigned to alarm systems. Theintermediary alarm server may maintain a number of allocated pairs ofshelf/slot numbers and PBX extensions that is greater than the maximumnumber of simultaneous alarm events anticipated given the number ofalarm systems that the intermediary alarm server is monitoring. In theevent that an available shelf/slot number does not exist when theprocessor receives the alarm data, the processor may not provide two-wayvoice services in handling the alarm event, may wait until a shelf/slotnumber becomes available and assign that shelf/slot to the alarm system,or may provide two-way voice services using another mechanism or anothermonitoring service.

In some implementations, shelf/slot numbers are numbers associated withincoming POTS telephone lines of the monitoring system. A monitoringsystem that communicates with an alarm panel using a POTS telephone linemay identify the alarm panel based on the shelf/slot number associatedwith the POTS telephone line that the alarm panel is using tocommunicate with the monitoring system. The monitoring system may beable to provide two-way voice services to the alarm panel by identifyingthe shelf/slot number of the POTS telephone line that the alarm panel isusing to send alarm data to the monitoring system and establishing thetwo-way voice communication session over that POTS telephone line. Assuch, in these implementations, alarm data and two-way voicecommunication sessions are provided over a common communication mediumthat the monitoring system may use to route the communications to theappropriate operator. The monitoring system may be able to assignshelf/slot number to PBX extensions such that calls placed to PBXextensions may be routed to operators using the same technology used toroute two-way voice communication sessions over POTS telephone lines.

The processor generates a signal the enables identification of theaccessed shelf/slot number (730). For example, the processor generatesan electronic communication that identifies the shelf/slot numberaccessed and assigned to the alarm system that transmitted the alarmdata. In this example, the signal may include the alarm data receivedfrom the alarm system or other information that may be used to identifythe alarm system. The processor may format the signal for transmissionover a communication medium other than the communication medium fromwhich the processor received the alarm data.

The processor transmits the generated signal to the monitoring system(740). For example, the processor may transmit the generated signal tothe monitoring system in an electronic communication over a network. Theprocessor may transmit the generated signal to the monitoring systemover a wired connection using a digital dialer signal. In otherarrangements, the processor may transmit the generated signal to themonitoring system over a wireless connection or may transmit thegenerated signal to the monitoring system using other communicationprotocols, such as IP packets. By transmitting the generated signal tothe monitoring system, the monitoring system associates the accessedshelf/slot identified in the signal with the alarm data transmitted fromthe alarm panel such that calls placed to the wireless call port (e.g.,PBX extension) associated with the shelf/slot number by the monitoringsystem may be routed to an operator handling the alarm data associatedwith the alarm panel. Because the monitoring system assigned thewireless call port (e.g., PBX extension) with a shelf/slot number andassociated the alarm data with the shelf/slot number, a wireless voicecall placed to the shelf/slot may be routed to an operator handling thealarm event associated with the alarm data using the same technologyused to route two-way voice communication sessions to operators foralarm systems that communicate with the monitoring system using a POTStelephone line.

The processor transmits a telephone number (e.g., PBX extension)associated with the shelf/slot number to the alarm system over thewireless data channel to enable the alarm system to place a call over awireless voice channel to the telephone number at the monitoring systemassociated with the shelf/slot number (750). For example, the processortransmits the telephone number to the alarm system in a datacommunication sent over a wireless data channel. In response toreceiving the telephone number, the alarm system places a wireless voicecall over a wireless voice channel to the telephone number. Because theprocessor transmitted the generated signal that identified the accessedshelf/slot number to the monitoring system, the monitoring systemassociated the alarm data from the alarm system with the shelf/slotnumber or the telephone number (e.g., PBX extension) assigned to theshelf/slot number. Based on the association of the alarm data from thealarm system with the shelf/slot number or the telephone number, themonitoring system may, using technology used to route two-way voicecommunication session over POTS telephone lines, route the call placedby the alarm system to the operator that is handling the alarm eventassociated with the alarm data. Thus, a two-way voice communicationsession may be established between the operator handling the alarm eventassociated with the alarm data and the alarm system.

In some implementations, the monitoring system or the alarm system mayprovide a disconnect message to the processor included in theintermediary alarm server in response to a two-way voice communicationsession completing. In implementations in which the alarm systemprovides the disconnect message, the disconnect message may betransmitted to the processor over a wireless data channel. Inimplementations in which the monitoring system provides the disconnectmessage, the disconnect message may be transmitted to the processor overa wired telephone line. In response to receiving the disconnect message,the processor may reallocate the shelf/slot number assigned to the alarmsystem to the pool of available shelf/slot numbers. By reallocating theshelf/slot number as available, the processor may assign the shelf/slotnumber to another alarm system that detects an alarm event. The otheralarm system may be different from and unrelated to the alarm system towhich the processor previously assigned the shelf/slot number.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example of an electronic system 800 configured toestablish a voice communication session between an alarm system and analarm operator. The system 800 includes an alarm panel with a GSM module810, a panel without a backup radio 815, cell towers 820 and 825, anintermediary alarm server 830, and a central monitoring station 840. Thealarm panel 810 communicates with the intermediary alarm server 830 andthe central monitoring station 840 over cell towers 820 and 825 toreceive alarm monitoring services and the alarm panel 815 communicateswith the central monitoring station 840 over a telephone line to receivealarm monitoring services.

The alarm panel with GSM module 810 may be an alarm panel included inalarm system configured to monitor a location, such as a commercialbuilding or a residence, for alarm events. In some implementations, thealarm panel may be a security panel included in a security systemconfigured to monitor a location for security breaches. The alarm panel810 may be similar to the alarm panel 210 described above with respectto the FIG. 2. In this case, the wireless communication module 214described with respect to FIG. 2 is a GSM module configured tocommunicate over a GSM/GPRS data channel and a GSM voice channel. Thealarm panel 810 may not have a connection to a wired telephone line.

The alarm panel without radio backup 815 may be an alarm panel includedin alarm system configured to monitor a location, such as a commercialbuilding or a residence, for alarm events. In some implementations, thealarm panel may be a security panel included in a security systemconfigured to monitor a location for security breaches. The alarm panel810 may be similar to the alarm panel 210 described above with respectto the FIG. 2, except that the alarm panel 815 includes a wiredcommunication module (e.g., a wired modem) rather than the wirelesscommunication module 214. The alarm panel 815 may communicate with thecentral monitoring station 840 directly over a wired telephone line andthe central monitoring station 840 may receive alarm data from the alarmpanel 815 over the wired telephone line and establish a two-way voicecommunication session with the alarm panel 815 over the wired telephoneline.

The cell towers 820 and 825 are cellular sites configured to transportcellular communications. For example, the cell towers 820 and 825 mayinclude antennas and electronic communications equipment that are placedto create a cell in a cellular network configured to exchange wirelesscommunications with electronic devices (e.g., cellular telephones,personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless communication modules,etc.). The cell towers 820 and 825 may include an elevated structure formounting antennas, and one or more sets of transmitter/receivers,transreceivers, digital signal processors, control electronics, a globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver, and regular and backup electricalpower sources. The cell towers 820 and 825 may be used by one or morecellular service providers that provide wireless communication services.

In some implementations, the cellular service providers may allocateparticular frequency bands for wireless data channels and different,particular frequency bands for wireless voice channels. In theseimplementations, the cellular service providers may optimize processingoperations associated with the wireless data channels for transmissionof digital data and may optimize processing operations associated withthe wireless voice channels for transmission of voice communications.For example, as shown in FIG. 8, the alarm panel 810 may establish atwo-way voice communication session with the central monitoring station840 over the cell tower 825 using a wireless voice channel (e.g., a GSMvoice channel) designated by a cellular service provider. In addition,the alarm panel 810 may transmit alarm data to the alarm server 830 overthe cell tower 820 using a wireless data channel (e.g., a GSM/GPRS datachannel) designated by the cellular service provider.

The alarm server 830 may include one or more electronic devices (e.g.,servers, hosts, computers, etc.) configured to provide alarm monitoringservices by exchanging electronic communications with the alarm panel810 over a wireless data channel and the central monitoring station 840over a wired IP-based network. For example, the alarm server 830 may beconfigured to monitor alarm events generated by the alarm panel 810. Inthis example, the alarm server 830 may exchange data communications withthe GSM module included in the alarm panel 810 over a GSM/GPRS datachannel to receive information regarding alarm events detected by thealarm panel 810.

In some examples, the alarm server 830 may route the alarm data receivedfrom the GSM module to the central monitoring station 840. For example,the alarm server 830 may transmit the alarm data to the centralmonitoring station 840 as IP packets over a wired IP-based network. Thealarm server 830 may add information the alarm data received from theGSM module and may convert or transform the alarm data into a formatused by the central monitoring station 840.

The alarm server 830 also may facilitate establishment of a voicecommunication session between the central monitoring station 840 and theGSM module included in the alarm panel 810. For example, the alarmserver 830 may maintain, in electronic storage, a pool of pairs ofshelf/slot numbers and PBX extensions that the central monitoringstation 840 allocated to the alarm server 830. In this example, thealarm server 830 may assign a shelf/slot number to the alarm panel 810in response to receiving alarm data from the alarm panel 810. The alarmserver 830 may provide information to the central monitoring station 840identifying the assigned shelf/slot number and provide information tothe alarm panel 810 identifying the assigned PBX extension. By providingthe assigned shelf/slot number to the central monitoring station 840 andproviding the assigned PBX extension to the alarm panel 810, the alarmpanel 810 may place a wireless voice call to a telephone numberassociated with the assigned PBX extension over a wireless voicechannel. Because the central monitoring station 840 received informationidentifying the shelf/slot assigned to the alarm panel 810 andpreviously assigned that shelf/slot number to the PBX extension to whichthe alarm panel 810 placed the wireless voice call, the centralmonitoring station 840, using the shelf/slot number, may route thewireless voice call to the operator handling the alarm data sent fromthe alarm panel 810 to establish a two-way voice communication session.

The central monitoring station 840 includes a telco receiver 841, an IPreceiver 842, a PBX 843, a server 844, and multiple terminals 846-848.The server 844 executes instructions of a program that controlsoperations and routing of communications for the central monitoringstation 840. For example, the server 844 executes Monitoring AutomationSystems (MAS) software.

The telco receiver 841 is an electronic device configured to provide aninterface to wired telephone lines (e.g., POTS telephone lines) of atelephone company. The telco receiver 841 may enable the centralmonitoring station to receive electronic data and voice communicationsover wired telephone lines. In some examples, the wired telephone linesare assigned shelf/slot numbers in the telco receiver 841 for purposesof identification. For instance, the telco receiver 841 may receivealarm data from the alarm panel 815 over a wired telephone line with aparticular shelf/slot number and provide the alarm data to the server844 with the shelf/slot number. The server 844 routes the alarm data toone of the terminals 846-848 and may establish a two-way voicecommunication session between an operator at the terminal processing thealarm data and the alarm panel 815 using the telco receiver 841. Theserver 844 may route the two-way voice communication session between theoperator at the terminal processing the alarm data and the alarm panel815 by using the shelf/slot number of the telephone line from which thetelco receiver 841 received the alarm data to identify the alarm panel815.

The IP receiver 842 is an electronic device configured to provide aninterface to an IP-based network. For example, the IP receiver 842 mayprovide an interface to the Internet and may be configured to receive IPpackets. For instance, the IP receiver 842 may receive alarm data fromthe alarm server 842 as IP packets over a wired IP-based network. Insome examples, the IP receiver receives information from the alarmserver 830 identifying a shelf/slot number the alarm server 830 assignedto the alarm panel 810. In these examples, the server 844 routes thealarm data to one of the terminals 846-848 and associates the alarm datawith the assigned shelf/slot number. By associating the alarm data withthe assigned shelf/slot number, when the central monitoring station 840receives a wireless voice call from the alarm panel 810 at the PBXextension associated with the assigned shelf/slot number, the server 844may automatically route the wireless voice call to the terminalprocessing the alarm data using the same software (e.g., shelf/slotnumber routing software) used to route the two-way voice communicationsession for the alarm panel 815 to the appropriate terminal.

The PBX 843 is a telephone exchange that serves the central monitoringstation 840. The PBX may receive wireless voice calls over the celltower 825. The central monitoring station 840 may assign shelf/slotnumber (or other identifiers) to PBX extensions such that calls receivedby the PBX may be routed in a manner similar to calls handled by thetelco receiver 841 as discussed above.

The terminals 846-848 are electronic devices that an operator uses tohandle an alarm event. In some implementations, the terminals 846-848may include a processing device (e.g., a computer) and a communicationdevice (e.g., a telephone). In these implementations, an operator mayuse the processing device to process alarm data and may use thecommunication device to engage in a two-way voice communication sessionwith an alarm panel. The terminals 846-848 may be similar to theterminals 232 and 234 described above with respect to FIG. 2.

FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a process 900 for establishing a voicecommunication session between an alarm system and an alarm operatorusing shelf and slot numbers. For convenience, particular componentsdescribed with respect to FIG. 8 are referenced as performing theprocess 900. However, similar methodologies may be applied in otherimplementations where different components are used to define thestructure of the system, or where the functionality is distributeddifferently among the components.

The alarm panel 810 receives a signal from a sensor (902) and detects analarm event based on the signal (904). For example, the alarm panel 810may receive a signal from a sensor that includes sensed values that mayindicate a security breach or other alarm event. In this example, thealarm panel 810 processes the sensed values to determine if an alarmevent has occurred. The alarm panel 810 may receive a signal from asensor and detect an alarm event based on the signal using techniquesdescribed above with respect to steps 302 and 304 shown in FIG. 3.

The alarm panel 810 transmits alarm data over a GSM/GPRS data channelusing the GSM module (906). For example, the alarm panel 810 maytransmit the alarm data as IP packets or an SMS message over a GSM/GPRSdata channel designated as a data channel by a service provideroperating the cell tower 820. The alarm data may include informationsufficient for the alarm server 830 to handle the alarm event. Forinstance, the alarm data may include information identifying the alarmpanel 810, the user of the alarm panel 810, or the location associatedwith the alarm panel 810. The alarm data may include a customer accountnumber with which the alarm server 830 may access stored informationassociated with the customer's account. In addition, the alarm data mayinclude information indicating the type of alarm event (e.g., securitybreach, fire alarm, etc.), the type of services needed (e.g., policeservices, fire services, etc.), and the specific sensor or detectedcondition that triggered the alarm event (e.g., basement door sensor,third floor smoke detector, etc.).

The alarm server 830 receives the alarm data from the alarm panel 810(908). For instance, the alarm server 830 receives the alarm data overthe GSM/GPRS data channel using a wireless communication interface. Uponreceipt of the alarm data, the alarm server 830 processes the alarm datato determine information associated with the alarm event. In someimplementations, the alarm server 830 extracts an account number fromthe alarm data and accesses, from electronic storage associated with thealarm server 830, information associated with the account number.

The alarm server 830, optionally, converts the alarm data (910). Thealarm server 830 may convert the content of the alarm data from a firstformat into a second format used by the central monitoring station 840.In addition, the alarm server 830 may convert the protocol used totransmit the alarm data from a first communication protocol used by thealarm panel 810 to a second communication protocol used by the centralmonitoring station 840.

The alarm server 830 accesses shelf/slot number data (912) andidentifies an available shelf/slot number based on the accessed data(914). For example, as discussed above, the central monitoring station840 may assign shelf/slot numbers with PBX extensions included in thePBX 843 and allocate a pool of those shelf/slot numbers to the alarmserver 830. In this example, the alarm server 830 may maintain theallocated pool of shelf/slot numbers and associated PBX extensions inelectronic storage and temporarily assigns a shelf/slot number/PBXextension pair to an alarm panel that has detected an alarm event. Thealarm server 830 maintains data indicating which shelf/slot number/PBXextension pairs have been assigned to which alarm panels and whichshelf/slot number/PBX extension pairs are available (e.g., not currentlyassigned to an alarm panel). In response to receiving the alarm data,the alarm server 830 accesses this information and identifies anavailable shelf/slot number based on the accessed information. The alarmserver 830 may temporarily assign the identified shelf/slot number/PBXextension pair to the alarm panel 810 for purposes of processing thedetected alarm event.

The alarm server 830 transmits the alarm data and the assignedshelf/slot number to the central monitoring station 840 (916). Forexample, the alarm server adds information identifying the assignedshelf/slot number to the alarm data and transmits the alarm data withthe information identifying the assigned shelf/slot number to thecentral monitoring station 840 in IP packets over an IP-based network.

The central monitoring station 840 receives the alarm data and theassigned shelf/slot number (918) and assigns the alarm data for operatorprocessing (920). For instance, the central monitoring station 840receives the alarm data and the assigned shelf/slot number in IP packetsusing the IP receiver 842. The IP receiver 842 sends the alarm data andthe assigned shelf/slot number to the server 844 and the server 844assigns the alarm data for operator processing and associates the alarmdata with the assigned shelf/slot number. By associating the alarm datawith the assigned shelf/slot number, the server 844 may automaticallyroute a call received by the PBX 843 at the PBX extension associatedwith the assigned shelf/slot to the operator processing the alarm data.The server 844 may assign the alarm data for operator processing usingtechniques described above with respect to step 316 shown in FIG. 3.

The central monitoring station 840 monitors the PBX 843 for a call atthe PBX extension associated with the assigned shelf/slot number (922).For example, because the central monitoring station 840 received alarmdata with the assigned shelf/slot number, the central monitoring station840 expects to receive a call at the PBX extension associated with theassigned shelf/slot number for establishing a two-way voicecommunication session. The central monitoring station 840 maycontinuously monitor for a call at the PBX extension, periodicallymonitor for a call at the PBX extension, or respond to a call at the PBXextension when a call is received at the PBX extension.

The alarm server 830 transmits a telephone number associated with thePBX extension that corresponds to the assigned shelf/slot number to thealarm panel 810 (924). For example, the alarm server transmits thetelephone number over the GSM/GPRS data channel to the alarm panel 810.In some implementations, the alarm server 830 transmits the telephonenumber to the alarm panel 810 simultaneously with transmitting the alarmdata and assigned shelf/slot to the central monitoring station 840,transmits the telephone number to the alarm panel 810 after apredetermined delay from transmitting the alarm data and assignedshelf/slot to the central monitoring station 840, or transmits thetelephone number to the alarm panel 810 after receiving a confirmationmessage from the central monitoring station 840 indicating that thecentral monitoring station 840 has received the alarm data andassociated the alarm data with the assigned shelf/slot number.

The alarm panel 810 receives the telephone number associated with thePBX extension that corresponds to the assigned shelf/slot number (926)and places a wireless voice call to the received telephone number over aGSM voice channel (928). For example, the alarm panel 810 receives thetelephone number from the alarm server 830 over the GSM/GPRS datachannel over the cell tower 820 and places a call to the telephonenumber using the GSM voice channel over the cell tower 825.

The central monitoring station 840 receives the wireless voice callusing the PBX 843 (930). For instance, the PBX 843 receives the wirelessvoice call using the GSM voice channel over the cell tower 825 at thePBX extension associated with the assigned shelf/slot number. Becausethe alarm server 830 transmitted the telephone number associated withthe PBX extension that corresponds to the assigned shelf/slot number tothe alarm panel 810 in response to assigning the shelf/slot number, thealarm panel 810 may place a call to the telephone number associated withthe appropriate PBX extension at the central monitoring station 840.

The central monitoring station 840 associates the wireless voice callfrom the alarm panel 810 with the operator handling the alarm data sentfrom the alarm panel 810 (932) and routes the wireless voice call to theoperator handling the alarm data sent from the alarm panel 810 (934).For example, the central monitoring station 840 determines theshelf/slot number associated with the PBX extension at which thewireless voice was received. Because the alarm server 830 transmittedthe shelf/slot number assigned to the alarm panel 810 along with thealarm data from alarm panel 810, the central monitoring station 840 wasable to associate the alarm data from the alarm panel 810 with theassigned shelf/slot number. Accordingly, in response to determining theshelf/slot number associated with the PBX extension at which thewireless voice was received, the central monitoring station 840 mayidentify the operator handling alarm data associated with the determinedshelf/slot number (e.g., the operator handling the alarm data sent fromthe alarm panel 810). After identifying the operator handling alarm dataassociated with the determined shelf/slot number, the central monitoringstation 840 accesses communication information associated with theoperator and routes the wireless voice call to a communication deviceassociated with the operator.

The central monitoring station 840 and the alarm panel 810 establish atwo-way voice communication session (936). For instance, by routing thewireless voice call from the alarm panel 810 to a communication deviceassociated with the operator handling the alarm data sent from the alarmpanel 810, the operator may answer the call and establish a two-wayvoice communication session with the alarm panel over the GSM voicechannel. The two-way voice communication session may be an intercom-likecommunication session between the operator and the alarm panel 810. Thetwo-way voice communication session may enable the operator to listen-into an area that is proximate to the alarm panel 810 or enable theoperator to communicate with a person who is in an area proximate to thealarm panel 810.

In response to disconnection of the two-way voice communication session,the alarm panel 810 transmits a disconnect message to the alarm server830 (938). For example, the alarm panel 810 transmits the disconnectmessage to the alarm server 830 using the GSM/GPRS data channel over thecell tower 820. The disconnect message may indicate that the two-wayvoice communication session has been completed and the alarm server 830may reallocate the assigned shelf/slot number/PBX extension pair asavailable. The disconnect message may include information identifyingthe alarm panel 810 and/or information identifying the shelf/slotnumber/PBX extension pair assigned to the alarm panel 810.

The alarm server 830 receives the disconnect message (940) and allocatesthe assigned shelf/slot number as available (942). The alarm server 830may receive the disconnect message using the GSM/GPRS data channel overthe cell tower 820. The alarm server 830 may process the disconnectmessage to identify the shelf/slot number/PBX extension pair associatedwith the two-way voice communication session that has becomedisconnected. In response to identifying the shelf/slot number/PBXextension pair, the alarm server 830 may update data used to track theassignment of shelf/slot number/PBX extension pairs to indicate thatthis particular shelf/slot number/PBX extension pair is now available.By updating the data, the alarm server 830 may assign the shelf/slotnumber/PBX extension pair to another alarm system in response to theother alarm system detecting an alarm event. By using disconnectmessages, the alarm server 830 may maintain data indicating which of theshelf/slot number/PBX extension pairs in its allocated pool arecurrently assigned to alarm panels and which are available.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a process 1000 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and an alarmoperator using extension identifiers. For convenience, particularcomponents described with respect to FIG. 8 are referenced as performingthe process 1000. However, similar methodologies may be applied in otherimplementations where different components are used to define thestructure of the system, or where the functionality is distributeddifferently among the components.

The alarm panel 810 receives a signal from a sensor (1002), the detectsan alarm event based on the received signal (1004), and transmits alarmdata over a GSM/GPRS data channel using the GSM module (1006). Forexample, the alarm panel 810 receives a signal from a sensor, thedetects an alarm event based on the received signal, and transmits alarmdata over a GSM/GPRS data channel using the GSM module using techniquessimilar to those described above with respect to steps 902, 904, and 906shown in FIG. 9.

The alarm server 830 receives the alarm data (1008) and, optionally,converts the alarm data (1010). The alarm server 830 may receive thealarm data and, optionally, converts the alarm data using techniquessimilar to those described above with respect to steps 908 and 910 shownin FIG. 9.

The alarm server 830 accesses PBX extension identifier data (1012),identifies an available PBX extension identifier (1014), and transmitsthe alarm data and the identified PBX extension identifier to thecentral monitoring station 840 (1016). In some implementations, thecentral monitoring station 840 allocates a pool of PBX extensionidentifiers to the alarm server 830 and the alarm server 830 maintainsdata identifying the allocated pool of PBX extension identifiers andindicating whether each of the PBX extension identifiers is available toassign to an alarm panel. In these implementations, the alarm server 830maintains a poll of allocated PBX extension identifiers in a mannersimilar to how the alarm server 830 maintains a pool of allocatedshelf/slot number/PBX extension pairs described with respect to FIG. 9except that the PBX extension identifiers have not been assignedshelf/slot numbers by the central monitoring station 840. Accordingly,the alarm server 830 may access PBX extension identifier data, identifyan available PBX extension identifier, and transmit the alarm data andthe identified PBX extension identifier to the central monitoringstation 840 using techniques similar to those described above withrespect to steps 912, 914, and 916 shown in FIG. 9.

The central monitoring station 840 receives the alarm data and assignedPBX extension identifier (1018) and assigns the alarm data for operatorprocessing (1020). For instance, the central monitoring station 840receives the alarm data and assigned PBX extension identifier andassigns the alarm data for operator processing using techniques similarto those described above with respect to steps 918 and 920 shown in FIG.9.

The central monitoring station 840 provides the operator processing thealarm data with the PBX extension identifier (1022). For example, thecentral monitoring station 840 may send the assigned PBX extensionidentifier to the terminal that the operator is using to process thealarm data. In this example, the terminal may render a display to theoperator identifying the assigned PBX extension identifier. By providingthe operator with the assigned PBX extension identifier, the operatormay know that a call placed to that PBX extension identifier is intendedfor the operator and may be from the alarm panel 810. Accordingly, theoperator may answer a call placed to that PBX extension identifier ormay configure their communication device to receive calls placed to thatPBX extension identifier.

The alarm server 830 transmits the telephone number associated with theassigned PBX extension identifier to the alarm panel 810 (1024). Thealarm server 830 may transmit the telephone number associated with theassigned PBX extension identifier to the alarm panel 810 usingtechniques similar to those described above with respect to step 924shown in FIG. 9.

The alarm panel 810 receives the telephone number associated with theassigned PBX extension identifier (1026) and places a wireless voicecall to the received telephone number over a GSM voice channel (1028).For instance, the alarm panel 810 receives the telephone numberassociated with the assigned PBX extension identifier and places awireless voice call to the received telephone number over a GSM voicechannel using techniques similar to those described above with respectto steps 1026 and 1028 shown in FIG. 9.

The central monitoring station 840 receives the wireless voice callusing the PBX 843 (1030). For example, the central monitoring station840 receives the wireless voice call using the PBX 843 using techniquessimilar to those described above with respect to step 930 shown in FIG.9.

The central monitoring station 840 enables the operator handling thealarm data sent from the alarm panel 810 to answer the wireless voicecall based on the PBX extension identifier (1032). For example, becausethe central monitoring system 840 provided the assigned PBX extensionidentifier to the operator handling the alarm data sent from the alarmpanel 810, the operator may answer a call placed to the assigned PBXextension identifier. In some implementations, the operator may noticethat a call is received at the assigned PBX extension identifier fromthe alarm panel 810 and answer the call. In other implementations, theoperator may temporarily configure their communication device to receivecalls placed to the telephone number associated with the assigned PBXextension identifier such that the communication device associated withthe operator receives the call from the alarm panel 810. By enabling theoperator to determine that a call placed to the assigned PBX extensionidentifier is from the alarm panel 810 and enabling the operator toanswer the call, the central monitoring station 840 may establish atwo-way voice communication session between the operator handling thealarm data and the alarm panel 810.

The central monitoring station 840 and the alarm panel 810 establish atwo-way voice communication session (1034). For example, the centralmonitoring station 840 and the alarm panel 810 establish a two-way voicecommunication session using techniques similar to those described abovewith respect to step 936 shown in FIG. 9.

In response to disconnection of the two-way voice communication session,the alarm panel 810 transmits a disconnect message to the alarm server830 (1036). The alarm panel 810 may transmit a disconnect message to thealarm server 830 using techniques similar to those described above withrespect to step 938 shown in FIG. 9.

The alarm server 830 receives the disconnect message (1038) andallocates the assigned PBX extension identifier as available (1040). Forinstance, the alarm server 830 receives the disconnect message andallocates the assigned PBX extension identifier as available usingtechniques similar to those described above with respect to steps 940and 942 shown in FIG. 9.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of a process 1100 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. The operations in flow chart 1100 are described generally asbeing performed by a processor. In some implementations, the processormay be included in an electronic device or system configured to send andreceive communications over a network. For example, the processor may beincluded in an alarm server, a central monitoring station server, oranother type of electronic device included in a system configured tomonitor an alarm system. In another example, the operations of process1100 may be performed by multiple processors included in one or moreelectronic devices or systems.

The processor receives event data from an alarm system over a wirelessdata channel in response to the alarm system detecting an event (1110).For example, the processor may receive event data from the alarm systemover a GSM/GPRS data channel, a wireless data channel configured totransport IP packets, a wireless data channel configured to transportSMS message, or any other type of wireless data channel configured totransmit data. The event data may include alarm data as described abovewith respect to FIGS. 1-10 and the processor may receive event data froman alarm system over a wireless data channel in response to the alarmsystem detecting an event using techniques similar to those describedabove with respect to step 110 shown in FIG. 1.

In some implementations, the event data may be different from alarm dataand may indicate an event or physical condition that does not give riseto an alarm event reported to a monitoring station, but may be ofinterest to a notification recipient or owner of the alarm system. Forexample, the event data may indicate that a medicine cabinet has beenopened a residence monitored by the alarm system. In this example,although the event of the medicine cabinet being opened may notconstitute an alarm event that is reported to a monitoring station, theevent of the medicine cabinet being opened may be of interest to anowner of the alarm system and the owner may wish to be notified of theevent. By notifying the owner of the event, the owner may be able totake action to determine whether a child has gotten into the medicinecabinet or whether an elderly person has taken the right medication.Other examples of events may include a temperature level in a residence(e.g., an owner of the residence may want to be notified if a child or aguest has adjusted a thermostat to a low level), an oven being turned on(e.g., an owner of the residence may want to be notified if the oven hasbeen turned on to prevent a potentially dangerous condition), a videogame system or television being turned on (e.g., an owner of theresidence may want to be notified if the video game system or televisionis turned on to monitor a child's use of those devices), etc.

In response to receiving the event data, the processor identifies anotification recipient (1120). For instance, the processor may processthe event data, identify an alarm system associated with the alarm data,and identify an owner of the identified alarm system. In some examples,the event data may include a customer account number and the processormay extract the customer account number from the event data. In theseexamples, the processor may use the customer account number to identifya notification recipient.

In some implementations, the processor accesses, from electronicstorage, stored information related to rules for identifying anotification recipient. The stored information may indicate that theprocessor should notify a particular notification recipient (e.g., anowner of the alarm system) every time the alarm system detects an event.In some examples, the rules in the stored information may identifydifferent notification recipients depending on the circumstancessurrounding the detected event. For instance, the rules may specifydifferent notification recipients depending on the type of eventdetected. For example, the processor may identify a father as thenotification recipient if the detected event is the medicine cabinetbeing opened and a mother may be notified if the detected event is avideo game system being turned on. The rules may specify a notificationrecipient that is best suited to handle the type of event detected.

In other examples, the processor may use the time and day associatedwith the detected event to identify a notification recipient. In oneexample, the processor may identify a father as a notification recipientif the alarm system detects an event between 8:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M.because the father does not work during these hours and may be able tohandle the event better than a mother who does work during these hours.In this example, the processor may identify the mother as a notificationrecipient if the alarm system detects an event between 3:00 P.M. and7:00 P.M. because the mother does not work during these hours and may beable to handle the event better than the father who does work duringthese hours. Further, in this example, for detected events during timesother than between 8:00 A.M. and 12:00 P.M. and between 3:00 P.M. and7:00 P.M., the processor may identify both the father and mother asnotification recipients because during these times the father and motherare either both working or both not working and are equally suited tohandle the alarm event.

In implementations in which the processor uses date information toidentify a notification recipient, the processor may identify anotification based on a day of a week or based on a travel schedule ofnotification recipients. For example, if the alarm system detects anevent during Monday through Friday, the processor may identify a nannyas a notification recipient because parents may be at work and unlikelyto be available to handle the event. In this example, if the alarmsystem detects an event on Saturday or Sunday, the processor mayidentify a parent as a notification recipient because the parent may notbe working and may be available to handle the event. The processor alsomay identify a notification recipient based on a travel schedule of oneor more notification recipients. For instance, if a mother is travelingbetween the dates of June 23 through June 30, the processor may identifya father as a notification recipient during these dates. The processoralso may access calendar information for one or more potentialnotification recipients and identify a notification recipient based onthe calendar information (e.g., the processor may not identify aparticular notification recipient if that recipient's calendarinformation indicates that the recipient is in a meeting or out of theoffice).

In other implementations, the processor may use a combination of type ofevent, time of day, date, or any other relevant factors to identify thenotification recipient. For instance, the stored information related torules for identifying a notification recipient may identify a father asthe notification recipient if the detected event is the medicine cabinetbeing opened on a Saturday between the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.,identify a mother as the notification recipient if the detected event isthe medicine cabinet being opened on a Saturday between the hours of12:00 P.M. to 8:00 P.M., identify a nanny as the notification recipientif the detected event is the medicine cabinet being opened on a Tuesdaybetween the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M., and identify a mother asthe notification recipient if the detected event is a video game systembeing played on a Saturday between the hours of 8:00 A.M. to 12:00 P.M.

In further implementations, the event data may include informationidentifying the notification recipient and the processor may identifythe notification recipient based on the event data. For instance, theprocessor may extract, from the event data, notification recipientinformation added to the event data by the alarm system. In theseimplementations, the alarm system may store information including rulesfor identifying a notification recipient and determine an appropriatenotification recipient prior to transmitting the event data.

The processor accesses voice communication information configured foruse in establishing a voice communication session between the identifiednotification recipient and the alarm system (1130). For example, theprocessor may access, from electronic storage, voice communicationinformation associated with the alarm system and/or voice communicationinformation associated the identified notification recipient. The voicecommunication information may be a telephone number, an IP address, orany other type of information that the processor may use to establish avoice communication session between the alarm system and thenotification recipient. In some examples, the processor may access thevoice communication information from the event data or from otherelectronic communications received from the alarm system or anelectronic device associated with the notification recipient.

The processor enables establishment of a voice communication sessionover a wireless voice channel between the identified notificationrecipient and the alarm system (1140). For example, in implementationsin which the processor accesses voice communication informationassociated with the notification recipient, the processor may transmitthe voice communication information associated with the notificationrecipient to the alarm system and the alarm system may use the voicecommunication information to establish a voice communication sessionwith the notification recipient. In this example, the voicecommunication information may be a telephone number for a mobile deviceof the notification recipient and the alarm system may place a wirelessvoice call over a wireless voice channel to the telephone number for themobile device of the notification recipient to establish a two-way voicecommunication session with the notification recipient.

In implementations in which the processor accesses voice communicationinformation associated with the alarm system, the processor may transmitthe voice communication information associated with the alarm system toan electronic device associated with the notification recipient and thenotification recipient may use the voice communication information toestablish a voice communication session with the alarm system. Forinstance, the voice communication information may be a telephone numberfor a wireless communication module included in the alarm system and thenotification recipient may place a wireless voice call over a wirelessvoice channel to the telephone number for the wireless communicationmodule included in the alarm system to establish a two-way voicecommunication session with the alarm system. In some implementations,the alarm system may require the notification recipient to provide apass code or other authentication information with call informationincluded in the call placed to the wireless communication module. Inthese implementations, the wireless communication module may only acceptcalls that include call information that has a pass code or that thealarm system may otherwise authenticate (e.g., by the telephone numberbeing used to place the call or device identification informationprovided in the call information). The processor may negotiate orprovide the pass code or other authentication information to thenotification recipient and/or the alarm system.

In further implementations, the processor may establish a voice callwith the alarm system over a wireless voice channel and establish avoice call with a device associated with the notification recipient overa wired or wireless connection. In these implementations, the processormay connect the call with the alarm system to the call with the deviceassociated with the notification recipient to establish a two-way voicecommunication session between the alarm system and the notificationrecipient.

The two-way voice communication session may be an intercom-likecommunication session between the notification recipient and the alarmsystem. The two-way voice communication session may enable thenotification to listen-in to an area of the location monitored by thealarm system and enable the operator to communicate with a person who isin the area of the location monitored by the alarm system. For example,as discussed above, if the event data indicates that a medicine cabinethas been opened, the two-way voice communication session may enable thenotification recipient to ask a person in an area proximate to themedicine cabinet which medicine the person took. In this example, thenotification recipient may determine that the person took incorrectmedicine and may be able to send medical assistance to the person. Inthe event that person took medicine that resulted in the person havingan allergic reaction that incapacitated the person such that the personcould not move to a phone to call emergency services, the notificationrecipient may be able to speak the person and call emergency servicesfor the person. In other examples, parents may be able to communicatewith a child in response to detecting an event when the parent is nothome (e.g., ask the child to turn off an oven or tell the child that heor she is not allowed to use the video game system) or owners of a homemay be able to communicate with guests in a house (e.g., ask the guestto turn the thermostat back to a higher setting in response to detectingthat the temperature in the home has fallen to a low level).

FIG. 12 illustrates an example of an electronic system 1200 configuredto establish a voice communication session between an alarm system and anotification recipient. The electronic system 1200 includes a network1205, an alarm panel 1210, an alarm server 1230, and a recipientelectronic device 1240. The network 1205 facilitates communicationsbetween the alarm panel 1210, the alarm server 1230, and the recipientelectronic device 1240.

The network 1205 is configured to enable exchange of electroniccommunications between devices connected to the network 1205. Forexample, the network 1205 may be configured to enable exchange ofelectronic communications between the alarm panel 1210, the alarm server1230, and the recipient electronic device 1240. In some implementations,the network 1205 may be similar to the network 205 described above withrespect to FIG. 2.

The alarm panel 1210 includes a controller 1212, a wirelesscommunication module 1214, a speaker 1216, and a microphone 1218. Thealarm panel 1210 may be similar to the alarm panel 1210 described abovewith respect to FIG. 2. Accordingly, the controller 1212 may be similarto the controller 212, the wireless communication module 1214 may besimilar to the wireless communication module 214, the speaker 1216 maybe similar to the speaker 216, and the microphone 1218 may be similar tothe microphone 218.

The alarm system that includes the alarm panel 1210 includes one or moresensors or detectors. The sensors or detectors may be provided onsecurity monitoring items (e.g., doors, windows, etc.) and may beprovided on other items monitored by the alarm system (e.g., a medicinecabinet, a closet door, other electronic devices in a building, etc.)The sensors or detectors may communicate using the alarm system usingwired or wireless data pathways and may communicate using differentprotocols. For instance, a sensor provided on an electronic device(e.g., an oven, a video game system, etc.) included in a buildingmonitored by the alarm system may communicate with the alarm system overa wireless connection using the Bluetooth protocol. In someimplementations, the alarm system may include multiple sensors 1220 and1222 that communicate with the alarm panel 1210 using communicationlinks 1224 and 1226. The sensors 1220 and 1222 and the communicationlinks 1224 and 1226 may be similar to the sensors 220 and 222 and thecommunication links 224 and 226 described above with respect to FIG. 2.

The alarm server 1230 includes one or more electronic devices (e.g.,servers, hosts, computers, etc.) configured to provide alarm/eventmonitoring services by exchanging electronic communications with thealarm panel 1210 over the network 1205. As shown, the alarm server 1230includes multiple electronic devices 1232 and 1234. The alarm server1230 may be similar to the alarm server 240 described above with respectto FIG. 2.

In some implementations, the alarm server 1230 may be configured toreceive event data from the wireless communication module 1214 includedin the alarm panel 1210 and identify a notification recipient based onthe event data. For example, the alarm server 1230 may include anelectronic data store with which the alarm server 1230 may storeinformation used in identifying a notification recipient. In thisexample, the alarm server 1230 may store information related to customeraccounts, alarm panels, and rules for identifying particularnotification recipients for certain customers or alarm panels. Inresponse to identifying a notification recipient based on event datareceived from the alarm panel 1210, the alarm server 1230 may exchangecommunications with the recipient electronic device 1240 and enableestablishment of a two-way voice communication session between therecipient electronic device 1240 and the alarm panel 1210.

The recipient electronic device 1240 may be a mobile device or a devicedesigned for a specific function. For example, the requesting userdevice 210 may include a cell phone, a smart phone, a tablet PC, apersonal digital assistant (“PDA”), or any other portable deviceconfigured to communicate over a network and display information. Forexample, implementations may also include Blackberry devices, electronicorganizers, iPod devices or other portable music players, othercommunication devices, and handheld or portable electronic devices forgaming, communications, and/or data organization. Although shown as amobile device, the recipient electronic device 1240 may be ageneral-purpose computer (e.g., a desktop personal computer, aworkstation, or a laptop computer) that is configured to communicatedevices over the network 1205. The recipient electronic device 1240 maybe any type of electronic device configured to receive electroniccommunications from the alarm server 1230 over the network 1205 andestablish a voice communication session with the alarm panel 1210.

FIG. 13 illustrates an example of a process 1300 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 12 are referenced as performing the process 1300. However,similar methodologies may be applied in other implementations wheredifferent components are used to define the structure of the system, orwhere the functionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220 (1302). Forexample, the controller 1212 may receive a signal from the sensor 1220over the communication link 1224. The signal may provide informationassociated with an event detected by the sensor 1220. For instance, thesensor 1220 may be a contact sensor attached to a door of a medicinecabinet and the signal may be a signal that the contact has been broken(e.g., that the door to the medicine cabinet has been opened). In otherexamples, the sensor 1220 may be a temperature and the signal mayindicate the temperature in a building or the sensor 1220 may be asensor on an electronic gaming system and the signal may indicate thatthe electronic gaming system has been turned on.

The alarm panel 1210 detects an event based on the signal (1304). Forexample, the controller 1212 analyzes the signal received from thesensor 1220 and determines whether an event has occurred based on thesignal. The controller 1212 may access a set of criteria used indetecting events and compare the received signal to the set of criteriato determine whether an alarm event has occurred. For instance, thecontroller 1212 may determine that an alarm event has occurred inresponse to receiving the signal from the sensor 1220 when the alarmsystem has been set to an armed state.

The alarm panel 1210, optionally, determines whether or not to transmitevent data associated with the detected event (1306). For example, thealarm panel 1210 may determine whether the detected event is one that auser of the alarm system desires to receive notifications. In thisexample, the user of the alarm system may decide which events the userwishes to be notified of and configure the alarm panel to send eventdata for events that the user wishes to be notified or, but not others.

In some implementations, the alarm panel may access a set of criteria orrules to determine whether or not to transmit event data associated withthe detected event. The set of criteria or rules may require multiplesignals from multiple sensors prior to detecting an alarm event or maycompare other factors, such as time and date, prior to determining totransmit event data. For example, the controller 1212 may determine totransmit event data for an event only when both a motion sensor and acontact sensor have been triggered. In this example, a user of the alarmsystem may wish to be notified when a medicine cabinet door has beenopened, but only when the medicine cabinet door has been openedintentionally. Accordingly, the controller 1212 may transmit event dataonly when the motion sensor and the contact sensor are triggered toavoid inadvertent events when the medicine cabinet door is openedwithout presence of a person being detected. In another example, thecontroller 1212 may compare the signal with a time or date associatedwith the received signal in determining whether to transmit event data.In this example, the alarm panel 1210 only may transmit event data ifthe signal is received at a particular date and/or time. For instance,the alarm system may transmit event data associated with turning on anelectronic device only when the electronic device is turned on betweenthe hours of 8:00 P.M. to 8:00 A.M.

In other implementations, the alarm panel 1210 may transmit event datafor all detected events without making a determination as to whether ornot to transmit the event data. In these implementations, a notificationrecipient may be notified of all events or the alarm server 1230 maydetermine whether to notify a recipient as discussed below.

In response to detecting an alarm event and, optionally, determining totransmit event data, the alarm panel 1210 transmits event data to thealarm server 1230 (1308). For example, the wireless communication module1214 may transmit the event data over a wireless data channel to thealarm server 1230. In some implementations, the wireless communicationmodule 1214 may send the alarm data in IP packets over a wireless datachannel configured to transport IP packets. In other implementations,the wireless communication module 1214 may send the alarm data in an SMSmessage over a wireless data channel configured to transport SMSmessages.

The event data includes information sufficient for the alarm server 1230to handle the event. For instance, the event data may includeinformation identifying the alarm panel 1210, the user of the alarmpanel 1210, or the location associated with the alarm panel 1210. Thealarm data may include a customer account number with which the alarmserver 1230 may access stored information associated with the customer'saccount. In addition, the event data may include information indicatingthe type of alarm event (e.g., security breach, fire alarm, medicinecabinet opening, electronic device being turned on, etc.) and thespecific sensor or detected condition that triggered the alarm event(e.g., basement door sensor, third floor smoke detector, medicinecabinet in master bathroom, oven being turned on, etc.).

The alarm server 1230 receives the event data from the wirelesscommunication module 1214 (1310) and identifies the alarm panel 1210(1312). For instance, the alarm server 1230 receives the alarm data overa wireless data channel using a wireless communication interface. Uponreceipt of the event data, the alarm server 1230 processes the alarmdata to identify the alarm panel that transmitted the event data anddetermine information associated with the event. In someimplementations, the alarm server 1230 extracts an account number fromthe event data and accesses, from electronic storage associated with thealarm server 1230, information associated with the account number. Thealarm server 1230 may access information related to the address of thelocation that the alarm system associated with the account number isprotecting and information related to the name and telephone number ofthe user associated with the account number. For instance, the alarmserver 1230 may access information identifying the alarm panel 1210 asbeing the alarm panel that transmitted the alarm data and accessinformation associated with contacting the alarm panel 1210.

The alarm server 1230, optionally, determines whether to notify arecipient based on the event associated with the event data (1314). Forexample, the alarm server 1230 compares the event data with informationindicating the types of events of which users of the alarm panel 1210wish to be notified and determines whether to notify a recipient basedon comparison results. In some implementations, the alarm server 1230determines whether to notify a recipient based on the event associatedwith the event data using techniques similar to those discussed abovewith respect to the alarm panel determining whether or not to transmitevent data associated with the detected event (step 1306).

The alarm server 1230 identifies a recipient to notify (1316). Forexample, the alarm server 1230 may access information related to one ormore notification recipients associated with the identified alarm panel.In this example, the alarm server 1230 may use the customer accountnumber for the identified alarm panel to identify an owner or user of analarm panel as the notification recipient. In some implementations, thealarm server 1230 accesses, from electronic storage, stored informationrelated to rules for identifying a notification recipient. In theseimplementations, the alarm server 1230 may identify a notificationrecipient using techniques similar to those discussed above with respectto step 1120 shown in FIG. 11.

In response to identifying a notification recipient, the alarm server1230 transmits a data communication to the recipient device 1240 tonotify the notification recipient of the event (1318). For example, thealarm server 1230 may access communication information associated withthe notification recipient and send, based on the accessed communicationinformation, a data communication to the recipient device 1240 over thenetwork 1205. The data communication may be an SMS message, an instantmessage, an electronic mail message, a pager message, or any other typeof electronic data communication. The alarm server 1230 may transmit thedata communication over wireless or wired connection. For instance, thealarm server 1230 may transmit the data communication as an SMS messageover a wireless data channel configured to transport SMS messages or thealarm server 1230 may transmit the data communication as an electronicmail message over the Internet.

The data communication includes information sufficient to notify therecipient of the event. The data communication may include informationsufficient to notify the recipient that an event has occurred and thatthe recipient may be able to obtain more information about the eventthrough other mechanisms. For instance, the data communication maymerely include information indicating that an event has occurred andthat the notification recipient should access a website of the alarmserver 1230 to obtain more information about the event. The datacommunication may include a link to a website or the alarm server 1230may have provided website information to the notification recipientpreviously. In other implementations, the data communication may includemore information about the event. In these implementations, the datacommunication may include information identifying the alarm panel 1210as being the alarm panel that detected the event, the type of alarmevent, etc. By providing some information to the notification recipientin the data communication, the notification recipient may be able todetermine whether the notification recipient wishes to obtain moreinformation or establish a two-way voice communication session with thealarm panel 1210.

The recipient device 1240 receives the data communication (1320) andrenders a display of the data communication (1322). For example, therecipient device 1240 receives the data communication over the network1205. The recipient device 1240 may receive the data communication aselectronic mail message using an electronic mail program, may receivethe data communication as an instant message using an instant messagingprogram, may receive the data communication as an SMS message using anSMS application, or may receive the data communication in another formator using another type of communication protocol. The recipient device1240 renders a display of the data communication on a display associatedwith the recipient device. The display may be connected to the recipientdevice 1240 over a wired or wireless connection or may be integrallyformed in the recipient device 1240. For instance, the recipient devicemay be a mobile phone and the mobile phone may render a display of thedata communication on a display of the mobile phone.

The recipient device 1240 transmits a request for a website associatedwith the alarm server 1230 (1324). For example, the notificationrecipient may control the recipient device 1240 to request the websiteassociated with the alarm server 1230 in response to viewing the datacommunication. The recipient device 1240 may use a web browsingapplication to request the website. In some implementations, therecipient device 1240 requests the website in response to thenotification recipient selecting a link included in the display of thedata communication rendered by the recipient device 1240. Thenotification recipient also may know the address of the website andcontrol the recipient device 1240 to access the known website. Therequest for the website may include authentication credentials or otherauthentication information with which the alarm server 1230 mayauthenticate the request.

The alarm server 1230 receives and authenticates the request (1326) andtransmits website data to the recipient device 1240 (1328). In someimplementations, the alarm server 1230 receives the request for thewebsite, identifies the notification recipient associated with therequest, and authenticates the request based on authenticationcredentials or other authentication information included in the request.In these implementations, after authenticating the request, the alarmserver 1230 accesses website data associated with the identifiednotification recipient and transmits the website data to the recipientdevice 1240 over the network 1205. The website data may be personal tothe notification recipient and may include additional information aboutthe event. For example, the website data may include detailedinformation associated with the specific condition that triggereddetection of the event (e.g., that the medicine cabinet in the thirdfloor bathroom has been opened). The website data also may include acontrol that the recipient may use to initiate a two-way voicecommunication session with the alarm panel 210. The website further mayinclude information associated with the other events detected by thealarm panel 1210, information associated with the notificationrecipient's account, or other information that may be useful in handlingthe event (e.g., a telephone number for poison control if the eventdetected is the opening of a medicine cabinet).

The recipient device 1240 receives the website data (1330) and renders adisplay of the website (1332). For example, the recipient device 1240receives the website data over the network 1205. The recipient device1240 may receive the website data in IP packets over the Internet anduse an Internet browsing application to render a display of the websitedata. The recipient device 1240 renders a display of the website data ona display connected to the recipient device 1240 over a wired orwireless connection or a display that is integrally formed in therecipient device 1240. For instance, the recipient device may be amobile phone and the mobile phone may render a display of the websitedata on a display of the mobile phone.

The recipient device transmits a command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 (1334). For example,the notification recipient may control the recipient device 1240 totransmit the command to initiate a voice call in response to viewing thewebsite data. The recipient may use the recipient device 1240 to selectan interface element (e.g., a command button) displayed on the websiteto transmit the command to initiate a voice call. In someimplementations, the recipient also may include information regardingwhich telephone number or device the recipient would like the alarmpanel to call. In these implementations, the recipient may indicate thatthe recipient would like to establish a two-way voice communicationsession with the alarm panel 1210 using a home telephone rather than themobile phone with which the notification recipient received the datacommunication and website data. The alarm panel 1210 may place a call tothe telephone number or device specified by the notification recipient.The recipient device 1240 may transmit the command to the alarm server1230 over the network 1205.

The alarm server 1230 receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 (1336) and transmitsthe command for the alarm panel 1210 to initiate a voice call to therecipient device 1240 to the alarm panel 1210 (1338). For instance, thealarm server 1230 receives the command over the network 1205 andforwards the command to the alarm panel 1210 over the network 1205. Insome implementations, the alarm server 1230 may convert the command to aformat or communication protocol used by the alarm panel 1210. The alarmserver 1230 may receive the command from the recipient device 1240 as anHTTP request over the Internet and transmit the command to the alarmpanel 1210 as an SMS message over a wireless data channel. The alarmserver 1230 also may add information to the command. For example, thealarm server 1230 may add telephone number information for thenotification recipient to the command. In this example, the alarm panel1210 may place a call to the telephone number added to the command bythe alarm server 1230. In another example, the alarm server 1230 addsidentification information to the command to enable the alarm panel 1210to identify which notification recipient to call.

The alarm panel 1210 receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 (1340). For instance,the alarm panel 1210 receives the command from the alarm server 1230over the network 1205. In this example, the alarm panel 1210 may receivethe command from the alarm server over a wireless data channel (e.g., aGSM/GPRS data channel).

The alarm panel 1210 accesses a telephone number for the recipientdevice 1240 (1342) and places a call to the accessed number (1344). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 may identify the notification recipientbased on the command and access, from electronic storage, the telephonenumber for the recipient device 1240 associated with the identifiednotification recipient. In other examples, the alarm panel 1210 mayaccess the telephone number from the command received from the alarmserver 1230. The alarm panel 1210 may use the wireless communicationmodule 1214 to place a wireless voice call over a wireless voice channelto the accessed telephone number associated with the recipient device1240.

The recipient device 1240 receives the wireless voice call (1346). Forexample, the recipient device 1240 receives the wireless voice callplaced by the wireless communication module 1214 over a wireless voicechannel and routed to the recipient device 1240 by a wireless serviceprovider associated with the wireless communication module 1214. Inresponse to receiving the call, the recipient device 1240 and the alarmpanel 1210 establish a two-way voice communication session in which therecipient may listen-in to an area proximate to the alarm panel 1210 andcommunicate with people in the area proximate to the alarm panel 1210.

FIG. 14 illustrates another example of a process 1400 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 12 are referenced as performing the process 1400. However,similar methodologies may be applied in other implementations wheredifferent components are used to define the structure of the system, orwhere the functionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220 (1402),detects an event based on the signal (1404), optionally, determineswhether or not to transmit event data associated with the detected event(1406), and transmits event data to the alarm server 1230 (1408). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220,detects an event based on the signal, optionally, determines whether ornot to transmit event data associated with the detected event, andtransmits event data to the alarm server using techniques similar tothose described above with respect to steps 1302, 1304, 1306, and 1308shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 receives the event data from the wirelesscommunication module 1214 (1410), identifies the alarm panel 1210(1412), optionally, determines whether to notify a recipient based onthe event associated with the event data (1414), and identifies arecipient to notify (1416). For example, the alarm server 1230 receivesthe event data from the wireless communication module 1214, identifiesthe alarm panel 1210, optionally, determines whether to notify arecipient based on the event associated with the event data, andidentifies a recipient to notify using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to steps 1310, 1312, 1314, and 1316 shownin FIG. 13.

In response to identifying a notification recipient, the alarm server1230 places an automated phone call to the recipient device 1240 (1418).For example, the alarm server 1230 may access communication informationassociated with the notification recipient and place, based on theaccessed communication information, a voice call to the recipient device1240 over the network 1205. The automated phone call may be aninteractive voice response (IVR) phone call placed to the recipientdevice 1240. The IVR phone call may include a phone call script withwhich the recipient may interact using the recipient device 1240. Thephone call script may indicate to the recipient that the alarm panel1210 detected an event and enable the recipient to respond to optionsincluded in the phone call script. For instance, the phone call scriptmay include information indicating the type of alarm detected by thealarm panel 1210 and enable the recipient to respond to the phone callscript by entering a command using the recipient device (e.g., pressinga button) or speaking a command.

The recipient device 1240 receives the automated phone call (1420) andaudibly plays the phone call script to the recipient (1422). Forexample, the recipient device 1240 receives the automated phone callover the network 1205 (e.g., over a wireless voice channel) and audiblyplays the phone call script to the notification recipient using aspeaker included in the recipient device 1240. The recipient may listento the phone call script to determine information associated with theevent that the alarm panel 1210 detected.

The recipient device 1240 receives user input (1424) and transmits acommand based on the user input (1426). In some implementations, therecipient device 1240 may receive user input from the recipient by therecipient pressing a button on the recipient device 1240 or speaking acommand into a microphone associated with the recipient device 1240. Theuser input may be related to whether or not the recipient wishes toestablish a two-way voice communication session with the alarm panel1210 based on the information included in the phone call script. Forexample, the user may press the button “one” or speak the word “yes” toindicate that the user wishes to establish a voice communication sessionwith the alarm panel 1210. In this example, the user may press thebutton “two” or speak the word “no” to indicate that the user does notwish to establish a voice communication session with the alarm panel1210. The recipient device 1240 transmits a command to the alarm server1230 over the network 1205 based on the user input. In the exampledescribed above, the recipient device 1240 may transmit a command toinitiate a voice communication session in response to the recipientpressing the button “one” or speaking the word “yes” and may transmit acommand not to initiate a voice communication session in response to therecipient pressing the button “two” or speaking the word “no.” Therecipient device 1240 may interpret the user input and generate thecommand based on the interpretation of the user input or may directlytransmit the user input received from the recipient as the command.

The alarm server 1230 receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 (1428) and transmits,to the alarm panel 1210, the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 (1430). For instance,the alarm server 1230 receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 and transmits, to thealarm panel 1210, the command for the alarm panel 1210 to initiate avoice call to the recipient device 1240 using techniques similar tothose described above with respect to steps 1336 and 1338 shown in FIG.13.

The alarm panel 1210 receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the recipient device 1240 (1432), accesses atelephone number for the recipient device 1240 (1434), and places a callto the accessed number (1436). For example, the alarm panel 1210receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 to initiate a voice callto the recipient device 1240, accesses a telephone number for therecipient device 1240, and places a call to the accessed number usingtechniques similar to those described above with respect to steps 1340,1342, and 1344 shown in FIG. 13.

The recipient device 1240 receives the wireless voice call (1438). Forexample, the recipient device 1240 receives the wireless voice callusing techniques similar to those described above with respect to step1346 shown in FIG. 13.

FIG. 15 illustrates a further example of a process 1500 for establishinga voice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 12 are referenced as performing the process 1500. However,similar methodologies may be applied in other implementations wheredifferent components are used to define the structure of the system, orwhere the functionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220 (1502),detects an event based on the signal (1504), optionally, determineswhether or not to transmit event data associated with the detected event(1506), and transmits event data to the alarm server 1230 (1508). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220,detects an event based on the signal, optionally, determines whether ornot to transmit event data associated with the detected event, andtransmits event data to the alarm server using techniques similar tothose described above with respect to steps 1302, 1304, 1306, and 1308shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 receives the event data from the wirelesscommunication module 1214 (1510), identifies the alarm panel 1210(1512), optionally, determines whether to notify a recipient based onthe event associated with the event data (1514), and identifies arecipient to notify (1516). For example, the alarm server 1230 receivesthe event data from the wireless communication module 1214, identifiesthe alarm panel 1210, optionally, determines whether to notify arecipient based on the event associated with the event data, andidentifies a recipient to notify using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to steps 1310, 1312, 1314, and 1316 shownin FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 accesses a telephone number and a passcode (1518).For example, the alarm server 1230 accesses, from electronic storage orfrom the event data transmitted by the alarm panel 1210, a telephonenumber for the alarm panel 1210 and a passcode used by the alarm panel1210 in authenticating received calls. The passcode may be static forthe alarm panel and the alarm server 1230 may access the passcode fromelectronic storage. In other examples, the passcode may be dynamicallygenerated by the alarm server 1230 or may be dynamically generated bythe alarm panel 1210 and transmitted to the alarm server 1230 in theevent data.

For security reasons, the alarm panel 1210 may be configured to acceptincoming voice calls only if the incoming voice calls include thepasscode in call information associated with the call. By requiring thepasscode, the alarm panel 1210 may prevent unauthorized calls andprevent people from eavesdropping on a building monitored by the alarmpanel 1210 by placing a call to the alarm panel 1210. In someimplementations, other security measures may be taken. For instance, thepasscode may be dynamically generated by the alarm panel 1210 or thealarm system 1230, the alarm panel 1210 may be configured to receivecalls only a predetermined and configurable period of time afterdetecting an event, the alarm panel 1210 may limit the length ofincoming voice calls, and the alarm panel 1210 may be configured to onlyaccept calls from particular devices or phone numbers.

The alarm server 1230 transmits the telephone number and passcode to therecipient device (1520). For example, the alarm server 1230 may accesscommunication information associated with the notification recipient andsend, based on the accessed communication information, the telephonenumber and passcode to the recipient device 1240 over the network 1205.A data communication including the telephone number and passcode may besent an SMS message, an instant message, an electronic mail message, apager message, or any other type of electronic data communication. Thealarm server 1230 may transmit the telephone number and passcode overwireless or wired connection. For instance, the alarm server 1230 maytransmit the telephone number and passcode in an SMS message over awireless data channel configured to transport SMS messages or the alarmserver 1230 may transmit the telephone number and passcode in anelectronic mail message over the Internet. The alarm server 1230 maytransmit the telephone number and passcode using a secure communicationmechanism or may encrypt the data including the telephone number andpasscode.

The recipient device 1240 receives the telephone number and passcode(1522). For example, the recipient device 1240 receives the telephonenumber and passcode in an electronic communication over the network1205. The recipient device 1240 may receive the electronic communicationas electronic mail message using an electronic mail program, may receivethe electronic communication as an instant message using an instantmessaging program, may receive the electronic communication as an SMSmessage using an SMS application, or may receive the electroniccommunication in another format or using another type of communicationprotocol.

The alarm server 1230, optionally, transmits the passcode to the alarmpanel 1210 (1524). For instance, the alarm server 1230 transmits thepasscode to the alarm panel 1210 in implementations in which the alarmserver 1230 dynamically generates the passcode. In theseimplementations, because the alarm server 1230 dynamically generated thepasscode, the alarm server 1230 needs to transmit the passcode to thealarm panel 1210 to enable the alarm panel 1210 to authenticate a voicecall received from the recipient device 1240. The alarm server 1230 maytransmit the passcode to the alarm panel 1210 in an electroniccommunication over the network 1205. For example, the alarm server 1230may transmit the passcode to the alarm panel 1210 in a datacommunication using a wireless data channel.

The alarm panel 1210, optionally, receives the passcode (1526) andstores the passcode in temporary electronic storage (1528). For example,the alarm panel 1210 receives the passcode in an electroniccommunication over the network 1205 and stores the passcode in temporaryelectronic storage associated with the alarm panel 1210. In thisexample, the alarm panel 1210 may receive the passcode from the alarmserver 1230 in a data communication received over a wireless datachannel. The alarm panel 1210 may store the passcode in temporaryelectronic storage for later access in authenticating a received call.

The recipient device 1240 places a voice call to the alarm panelincluding the passcode in call information associated with the voicecall (1530). For instance, the recipient device places a wireless voicecall to the telephone number associated with the alarm panel 1210 over awireless voice channel. The recipient device may be a mobile telephoneand the recipient may control the mobile telephone to call the alarmpanel 1210. The recipient device 1240 may add the passcode to callinformation associated with the voice call. The call information may bepart of the wireless voice call or may be additional informationtransmitted with the wireless voice call.

The alarm panel 1210 receives the voice call placed by the recipientdevice 1240 (1532) and extracts the passcode from the call informationassociated with the voice call (1534). For example, the alarm panel 1210receives the call over the network 1205, accesses call informationassociated with the call, and parses the call information to extract thepasscode included in the call information. The alarm panel 1210 maydelay connection of the call until after determining whether thepasscode included in the call information is authentic. If the receivedcall does not include a passcode, the alarm panel 1210 drops the calland prevents the call from being connected. The extracted passcode maybe a string of characters that the alarm panel 1210 may use to compareagainst a stored passcode.

The alarm panel 1210 accesses a stored passcode (1536) and compares theextracted pass code to the stored passcode (1538). For example, thealarm panel 1210 accesses a stored passcode from electronic storageassociated with the alarm panel 1210. In this example, the passcode maybe a permanent or dynamically generated passcode stored in persistentstorage associated with the alarm panel 1210 or the passcode may be atemporary passcode dynamically generated by the alarm server 1230 andstored in temporary storage. The alarm panel 1210 compares the passcodeextracted from the call information to the passcode accessed fromelectronic storage. For instance, the alarm panel 1210 may compare thecharacters included in the extracted passcode to the characters includedin the stored passcode to determine whether the extracted passcodematches the stored passcode.

The alarm panel 1210 accepts the call and establishes a voicecommunication session with the recipient device 1240 based on thecomparison (1540). For example, if the extracted passcode matches thestored passcode, the alarm panel 1210 determines that the received callis authentic and allows the received call to connect (e.g., answers thereceived call). By connecting the call, the alarm panel 1210 establishesa two-way voice communication session with the recipient device 1240such that the notification recipient may listen-in to areas proximate tothe alarm panel 1210 and communicate with people in the area proximateto the alarm panel 1210. If the extracted passcode does not match thestored passcode, the alarm panel 1210 determines that the received callis not authentic and prevents the received call from connecting (e.g.,does not answer the call).

FIG. 16 illustrates another example of a process 1600 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 12 are referenced as performing the process 1600. However,similar methodologies may be applied in other implementations wheredifferent components are used to define the structure of the system, orwhere the functionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220 (1602),detects an event based on the signal (1604), optionally, determineswhether or not to transmit event data associated with the detected event(1606), and transmits event data to the alarm server 1230 (1608). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220,detects an event based on the signal, optionally, determines whether ornot to transmit event data associated with the detected event, andtransmits event data to the alarm server using techniques similar tothose described above with respect to steps 1302, 1304, 1306, and 1308shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 receives the event data from the wirelesscommunication module 1214 (1610), identifies the alarm panel 1210(1612), optionally, determines whether to notify a recipient based onthe event associated with the event data (1614), and identifies arecipient to notify (1616). For example, the alarm server 1230 receivesthe event data from the wireless communication module 1214, identifiesthe alarm panel 1210, optionally, determines whether to notify arecipient based on the event associated with the event data, andidentifies a recipient to notify using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to steps 1310, 1312, 1314, and 1316 shownin FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 places an automated phone call to the recipientdevice 1240 (1618). For example, the alarm server 1230 places anautomated phone call to the recipient device 1240 using techniquessimilar to those described above with respect to step 1418 shown in FIG.14.

The recipient device 1240 receives the automated phone call (1620),audibly plays the phone call script to the recipient (1622), receivesuser input (1624), and transmits a command based on the user input(1626). The command may be a command to transfer the automated phonecall to the alarm panel 1210 to establish a voice communication sessionbetween the recipient device 1240 and the alarm panel 1210 using thetransferred phone call. The recipient device 1240 may receive theautomated phone call, audibly play the phone call script to therecipient, receive user input, and transmit a command based on the userinput using techniques similar to those described above with respect tosteps 1420, 1422, 1424, and 1426 shown in FIG. 14.

The alarm server 1230 receives the command to transfer the voice callwith the recipient device 1240 to the alarm panel 1210 (1628). Forinstance, the alarm server 1230 receives the command using techniquessimilar to those described above with respect to step 1336 shown in FIG.13.

In response to receiving the command to transfer the voice call with therecipient device 1240 to the alarm panel 1210, the alarm server 1230accesses a telephone number for the alarm panel 1210 (1630) and transferthe call with the recipient device 1240 to the alarm panel 1210 (1632).For example, the alarm server 1230 accesses, from electronic storage, atelephone number for the alarm panel 1210 and transfers the call withthe recipient device 1240 to the accessed telephone number. In thisexample, because the call to the alarm panel 1210 is being transferredfrom the alarm server 1230 and the alarm server 1230 is a trusteddevice, the alarm panel 1210 may assume the call is authentic and acceptthe call. In some implementations, the alarm panel 1210 may beconfigured to only accept calls from the alarm server 1230. In theseimplementations, the alarm panel 1210 may ignore calls that are nottransferred or placed by the alarm server 1230 to prevent unauthorizedcalls from being received.

The alarm panel 1210 receives the transferred call with the recipientdevice 1240 (1634). For example, the alarm panel 1210 receives thetransferred call with the recipient device 1240 over a wireless datachannel. By receiving the transferred call previously connected with therecipient device 1240, the alarm panel 1210 establishes a two-way voicecommunication session with the recipient device 1240.

FIG. 17 illustrates another example of a process 1700 for establishing avoice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 12 are referenced as performing the process 1700. However,similar methodologies may be applied in other implementations wheredifferent components are used to define the structure of the system, orwhere the functionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220 (1702),detects an event based on the signal (1704), optionally, determineswhether or not to transmit event data associated with the detected event(1706), and transmits event data to the alarm server 1230 (1708). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220,detects an event based on the signal, optionally, determines whether ornot to transmit event data associated with the detected event, andtransmits event data to the alarm server using techniques similar tothose described above with respect to steps 1302, 1304, 1306, and 1308shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 receives the event data from the wirelesscommunication module 1214 (1710) and identifies the alarm panel 1210(1712). For example, the alarm server 1230 receives the event data fromthe wireless communication module 1214 and identifies the alarm panel1210 using techniques similar to those described above with respect tosteps 1310 and 1312 shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 determines whether the alarm panel 1210 has atwo-way voice feature (1714). For example, the monitoring system 1230processes the event data to determine whether the alarm panel 1210associated with the alarm data has a two-way voice feature. In someimplementations, the event data may include information indicatingwhether the alarm panel 1210 associated with the alarm data has atwo-way voice feature. In these implementations, a code or part of anaccount number included in the event data may indicate whether the alarmpanel 1210 associated with the alarm data has a two-way voice featureand the alarm server 1230 may determine whether the alarm panel 1210 hasa two-way voice feature by extracting the code or part of the accountnumber and comparing the code or part of the account number to knowninformation. In other implementations, the alarm server 1230 may access,from electronic storage associated with the alarm server 1230,information indicating whether the identified alarm panel has a two-wayvoice feature. In some examples, the alarm server 1230 may determine amodel number associated with the alarm panel 1210 and access informationindicating whether alarm panels with that model number have a two-wayfeature. In other examples, the alarm server 1230 may access informationassociated with the customer using the alarm panel 1210 and determinewhether the customer has subscribed for monitoring services that includea two-way voice feature.

In response to determining that the alarm panel 1210 has a two-way voicefeature, the alarm server 1230 waits for a call from the alarm panel1210 (1716). For instance, the alarm server 1230 delays processing ofthe event data and monitors incoming calls for calls from the alarmpanel 1210.

The alarm panel 1210 accesses a phone number associated with the alarmserver 1230 (1718), waits a predetermined and configurable amount oftime (1720), and places a call to the alarm server 1230 (1722). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 accesses, from electronic storage, a phonenumber associated with the alarm server 1230 and waits a predeterminedand configurable amount of time prior to placing a call to the alarmserver 1230. In this example, the predetermined amount of time is anamount of time sufficient for the alarm server 1230 to receive the eventand wait for the call from the alarm panel 1210. After waiting thepredetermined amount of time, the alarm panel 1210 places a call to thealarm server 1230 and requests transfer of the call to a notificationrecipient.

The alarm server 1230 receives an automated phone call from the alarmpanel 1210 (1724). For example, the alarm server 1230 receives awireless voice call placed by the wireless communication module 1214over a wireless voice channel and routed to the alarm server 1230 by awireless service provider associated with the wireless communicationmodule 1214. In response to receiving the call, the alarm server 1230identifies the call as being from the alarm panel 1210 and determines totransfer the call to the recipient device 1240.

The alarm server accesses a phone number for the recipient device 1240(1726) and transfers the call to the recipient device 1240 (1728). Forexample, the alarm server accesses a phone number for the recipientdevice 1240 and transfers the call to the recipient device 1240 usingtechniques similar to those described above with respect to steps 1630and 1632 shown in FIG. 16.

The recipient device 1240 receives, from the alarm server 1230, thetransferred call with the alarm panel 1210 (1730). For example, therecipient device receives the transferred call and establishes a two-wayvoice communication session with the alarm panel 1210. The recipientdevice 1240 may receive, from the alarm server 1230, the transferredcall with the alarm panel 1210 using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to step 1634 shown in FIG. 16.

FIG. 18 illustrates a further example of a process 1800 for establishinga voice communication session between an alarm system and a notificationrecipient. For convenience, particular components described with respectto FIG. 12 are referenced as performing the process 1800. However,similar methodologies may be applied in other implementations wheredifferent components are used to define the structure of the system, orwhere the functionality is distributed differently among the components.

The alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220 (1802),detects an event based on the signal (1804), optionally, determineswhether or not to transmit event data associated with the detected event(1806), and transmits event data to the alarm server 1230 (1808). Forexample, the alarm panel 1210 receives a signal from the sensor 1220,detects an event based on the signal, optionally, determines whether ornot to transmit event data associated with the detected event, andtransmits event data to the alarm server using techniques similar tothose described above with respect to steps 1302, 1304, 1306, and 1308shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 receives the event data from the wirelesscommunication module 1214 (1810), identifies the alarm panel 1210(1812), optionally, determines whether to notify a recipient based onthe event associated with the event data (1814), and identifies arecipient to notify (1816). For example, the alarm server 1230 receivesthe event data from the wireless communication module 1214, identifiesthe alarm panel 1210, optionally, determines whether to notify arecipient based on the event associated with the event data, andidentifies a recipient to notify using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to steps 1310, 1312, 1314, and 1316 shownin FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 places an automated phone call to the recipientdevice 1240 (1818). For example, the alarm server 1230 places anautomated phone call to the recipient device 1240 using techniquessimilar to those described above with respect to step 1418 shown in FIG.14.

The recipient device 1240 receives the automated phone call (1820),audibly plays the phone call script to the recipient (1822), receivesuser input (1824), and transmits a command based on the user input(1826). The command may be a command to establish a voice communicationsession between the recipient device 1240 and the alarm panel 1210. Therecipient device 1240 may receive the automated phone call, audibly playthe phone call script to the recipient, receive user input, and transmita command based on the user input using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to steps 1420, 1422, 1424, and 1426 shownin FIG. 14.

The alarm server 1230 receives the command to establish a voicecommunication session between the recipient device 1240 and the alarmpanel 1210 (1828) and transmits a command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the alarm server 1230 (1830). For instance, thealarm server 1230 receives the command to establish a voicecommunication session between the recipient device 1240 and the alarmpanel 1210 and transmits a command for the alarm panel 1210 to initiatea voice call to the alarm server 1230 using techniques similar to thosedescribed above with respect to steps 1336 and 1338 shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 maintains connection of the call between the alarmserver 1230 and the recipient device 1240 (1832). For instance, thealarm server 1230 places the call with the recipient device 1240 on holdand maintains the connection with the recipient device 1240. In someimplementations, the alarm server 1230 may store information indicatingthat the maintained call should be connected with a call from the alarmpanel 1210 if a call from the alarm panel 1210 is received.

The alarm panel 1210 receives the command for the alarm panel 1210 toinitiate a voice call to the alarm server 1230 (1834), accesses atelephone number for the alarm server 1230 (1836), and places a call tothe accessed number (1838). For example, the alarm panel 1210 receivesthe command for the alarm panel 1210 to initiate a voice call to thealarm server 1230, accesses a telephone number for the alarm server1230, and places a call to the accessed number using techniques similarto those described above with respect to steps 1340, 1342, and 1344shown in FIG. 13.

The alarm server 1230 receives an automated phone call from the alarmpanel 1210 (1840) and connects the call with the alarm panel 1210 to thecall maintained with the recipient device 1240 (1842). For example, thealarm server 1230 receives the wireless voice call placed by thewireless communication module 1214 over a wireless voice channel androuted to the alarm server 1230 by a wireless service providerassociated with the wireless communication module 1214. In response toreceiving the call, the alarm server 1230 identifies the call as beingfrom the alarm panel 1210 and determines to connect the call receivedfrom the alarm panel 1210 with the call maintained with the recipientdevice 1240. The alarm server 1230 may establish a two-way voicecommunication session between the alarm panel 1210 and the recipientdevice 1240 by connecting the call with the alarm panel 1210 to the callwith the recipient device 1240. By connecting the two calls, thenotification recipient may use the recipient device 1240 to listen-in toan area proximate to the alarm panel 1210 and communicate with people inthe area proximate to the alarm panel 1210.

In some implementations, an alarm panel supplies, and may be the onlysupply of, power to a wireless communication module included in thealarm panel. In these implementations, the alarm panel may control powersupplied to the wireless communication module to assure that operationof the wireless communication module does not run down a battery (e.g.,a backup battery) of the alarm panel. For example, in the event that ACpower supply to the alarm panel is lost, the alarm panel may operatebased on a backup battery and may disable voice communication operationsof the wireless communication module to preserve power in the backupbattery. In this example, if the alarm panel determines that operationof the voice component of the alarm application will draw an undueamount of power, the alarm panel may disable the capability ofestablishing two-way voice communication sessions with a monitoringstation and/or notification recipients. By disabling voice communicationoperations, the alarm panel preserves battery power to perform other,perhaps more essential, operations including the sending of alarm data.

In implementations in which the alarm panel controls power supplied tothe wireless communication module, the alarm data transmitted by thealarm panel may include information indicating whether the wirelesscommunication module is operating at the time the alarm data istransmitted. For example, the alarm data may include a bit indicatingthe current state of the wireless communication module and an alarmserver or monitoring system may analyze that bit to determine whether toanticipate a call from the wireless communication module. In thisexample, if the bit is set to high, the alarm server or monitoringsystem may determine that the wireless communication module is currentlyoperating and process the alarm data in anticipation of a call with thealarm panel (e.g., wait for a call from the wireless communicationmodule, place a call to the wireless communication module, etc.). If thebit is set to low, the alarm server or monitoring system may determinethat the wireless communication module is not currently operating andprocess the alarm data without anticipating a call (e.g., immediatelyprocess the alarm data without waiting for a call from the wirelesscommunication module, not place a call to the wireless communicationmodule, etc.).

In further implementations, an alarm system may perform digitalconversion of microphone and speaker input and output signals to enablethe use of analog alarm system components with a digital wireless (e.g.,cellular) communicator in establishing two-way voice communicationsessions. For instance, the alarm system may convert analog voicesignals received from a microphone to digital voice signals and transmitthe digital voice signals over a wireless channel configured totransport digital voice signals. The digital signals may include aseries of IP packets that are transmitted over a wireless channelconfigured to provide VoIP services. The alarm system also may convertdigital voice signals received by the digital wireless communicator toanalog voice signals and output the analog voice signals using aspeaker. Wireless channels configured to transmit digital data may beused to establish voice communication sessions.

The described systems, methods, and techniques may be implemented indigital electronic circuitry, computer hardware, firmware, software, orin combinations of these elements. Apparatus implementing thesetechniques may include appropriate input and output devices, a computerprocessor, and a computer program product tangibly embodied in amachine-readable storage device for execution by a programmableprocessor. A process implementing these techniques may be performed by aprogrammable processor executing a program of instructions to performdesired functions by operating on input data and generating appropriateoutput. The techniques may be implemented in one or more computerprograms that are executable on a programmable system including at leastone programmable processor coupled to receive data and instructionsfrom, and to transmit data and instructions to, a data storage system,at least one input device, and at least one output device. Each computerprogram may be implemented in a high-level procedural or object-orientedprogramming language, or in assembly or machine language if desired; andin any case, the language may be a compiled or interpreted language.Suitable processors include, by way of example, both general and specialpurpose microprocessors. Generally, a processor will receiveinstructions and data from a read-only memory and/or a random accessmemory. Storage devices suitable for tangibly embodying computer programinstructions and data include all forms of non-volatile memory,including by way of example semiconductor memory devices, such asErasable Programmable Read-Only Memory (EPROM), Electrically ErasableProgrammable Read-Only Memory (EEPROM), and flash memory devices;magnetic disks such as internal hard disks and removable disks;magneto-optical disks; and Compact Disc Read-Only Memory (CD-ROM). Anyof the foregoing may be supplemented by, or incorporated in,specially-designed ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits).

It will be understood that various modifications may be made. Forexample, other useful implementations could be achieved if steps of thedisclosed techniques were performed in a different order and/or ifcomponents in the disclosed systems were combined in a different mannerand/or replaced or supplemented by other components. Accordingly, otherimplementations are within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of coordinating establishment of a voicecommunication session between an alarm system and an operator handlingan alarm event for the alarm system, the method comprising: receivingalarm data over a data communication channel, the alarm data beingtransmitted by a communication module included in an alarm system inresponse to the alarm system detecting an alarm event and the alarm dataindicating the alarm event; based on receiving the alarm data over thedata communication channel, enabling an operator located at a centralmonitoring station to handle the alarm event detected by the alarmsystem; accessing, by a processing device, voice communicationinformation used in establishing, over a voice communication channelthat is decoupled from the data communication channel, a voicecommunication session with a communication device used by the operatorhandling the alarm event; and facilitating establishment of a voicecommunication session, over the voice communication channel, between thecommunication device used by the operator handling the alarm event andthe communication module included in the alarm system by transmitting,over the data communication channel to the communication module includedin the alarm system, the accessed voice communication information,thereby enabling the communication module included in the alarm systemto use the accessed voice communication information to initiate thevoice communication session with the communication device used by theoperator handling the alarm event.